Babysitting
by Kalsypher
Summary: My name is Sango Yukimura and I m Keiko s sister and Yusuke s best friend without a love interest. I ve seen it all and experienced a bit more than Keiko and now that Yusuke isn t Spirit Detective anymore I get to experience a "normal" life again...or so I thought. Basically it all started with a phone call from my foxy friend, Kurama asking me to the prom... Hiei x OC
1. Date with Foxy

The three of us had been to literally hell and back. My ending up in hell was completely Hiei`s fault which he said lesson to learn when they told me not to follow them. He should not have pushed me into Demon World.

But, we were all good friends. While Yusuke was in Demon World for the Demon Tournament, Keiko and I went to an all girl`s school together. I didn`t want to go, but my mother made me.

'There will be cute boys at that school next door,' she told me. 'You`ll finally leave that Urameshi boy alone.'

Honestly, I figured she would have tried to set me up with Kurama. Or Kuwabara, but nope. She thought I was after Yusuke just like Keiko. While I did admire Kurama, he wasn`t my type of guy. My eyes were set on a different prize. One I would never have.

"Check it out!" Keiko yelled as she ran into our extremely girly dorm room. Every time I stepped in I wanted to set it on fire. "They`re going to have a prom!"

"And just who are you going with?" I asked her unconcerned with the matter. "Yusuke`s not exactly in this world at the moment, remember?"

She glared at me, "I`d like you to know I`ve already been asked and I said yes!"

"Five dollars he`ll feel you up and you`ll slap him," I muttered.

She threw a book at me that I easily blocked with my arm. She was fuming, "You are no better than Yusuke!"

"It`s what I`m here for. To make sure you`re still available for him."

"But we`re sisters!" Keiko whined. "I wouldn`t try to stop you from dating someone!"

I laughed, "And who do you think I`m interested in?"

"Kurama!"

"No," I said as I went back to reading.

"Yusuke did say he saw you glancing at Hiei a couple of times though," she said slyly.

"Even if I am interested in Hiei there`s a negative amount of chance he`s leaving Demon World for me."

"Why would you be interested in Hiei?"

"Why would you be interested in Yusuke?"

My phone buzzed. I looked at it and flipped it open, "Hey foxy."

"Good morning Sango," Kurama greeted. "I suppose you have heard of the dance coming up. I was wondering if you would be interested in going with me."

"You`re telling me the ever-so-charming Kurama can`t get a date outside his comfort zone?" I joked.

"Well, if any of the girls were worth asking, I may have asked them," he said coyly.

I damned him. "Fine. What color do you want to wear?"

He went silent for a moment and I just laughed, "I think you look lovely in yellow, Kurama. We`ll work on it."

"You want me to wear a yellow tux?" He asked in horror.

I snickered, "Heavens no, just the tie."

He sighed in relief, "I can do that. Do you want me to go shopping with you?"

"No, that will ruin the surprise!"

Kurama was quiet for a moment. I could hear him talking to someone else, but I couldn`t tell who. "How about purple?" He suggested.

"Y-You want to wear purple?" I asked him. "That will clash with your hair."

"Just trust me, alright?"

I sighed, "Fine. I trust you."

"And tell Keiko to wear green. Shuuichi wants to go with her."

I sighed, "Alright, fine."

I hung up and looked at Keiko, "Hey, Kurama got you a date to the prom thing. He said to wear green."

"That`s too vague!" Keiko yelled. "Do you know how many shades of green there are?!"


	2. Hiei!

"Call Kurama," I told Keiko. "He`s the one that set you up."

She immediately started dialing. I had a feeling that I wasn`t actually attending the dance with Kurama. He despised the color purple with a heated passion. Mainly because he had to wear pink all through high school. Though the colors weren`t close, Kurama still hated the color purple. I blamed his demon side for it. And his bat demon friend that had died at his side. Purple probably reminded him of that guy. And Hiei wore a purple wife beater every so often.

"When you`re done, I want to talk to-"

"KURAMA, WHAT SHADE OF GREEN?!" Keiko yelled. "And who am I going with?!"

I just sighed and shook my head. Whatever.

"Might as well figure out what shade of purple while you`re at it," I mumbled.

She gave me a confused look for a moment, "And Sango wants to know what shade of purple. You hate purple." Her eyes widened, "No way. Kurama, she`s going to kill you. No, I won`t tell her."

I raised an eyebrow at that. If there was one thing I hated, it was secrets. That`s how I knew about the spirit detective thing before Keiko. I talked to Botan and Yusuke then went to that Genkai`s place and figured out where Kurama lived to figure out the details of everything. I never told Keiko because it gave me a headache trying to understand it. Poor Kurama drew it all out for me.

Even then I didn`t really understand. I didn`t grasp it until Hiei threw me into Demon World. The fact I survived Demon World was enough to surprise anyone.

Keiko hung up, "He said you know what kind."

I sighed as I fell onto my bed, "Sneaky twerp. I`m gonna go see him."

"Why?" Keiko asked. She glared at me, "Are you two hiding something?"

"Yeah," I stated bluntly as I got up and walked out, slamming the door behind me.

Hiei was back. Why? I didn`t know. But, I wasn`t particularly excited about seeing him. From what I understood, he had a…mate. Or something. Mukuro, one of the three Kings of Demon World.

I got to meet the half cyborg when I had my trip there. She nearly killed me. According to Hiei, I deserved to die for talking to her like that, but I wasn`t going to get pushed around. Even Kurama told me I was foolish, while Yusuke commended me for my efforts. Of course the human would support me.

But, Hiei had been willing to protect me. He had stopped Mukuro`s attack. It didn`t stop my mouth though until Kurama held me back and Hiei covered my mouth. Yomi offered Kurama and Hiei a price for me to be his personal slave, which set me off again.

I walked into the lobby of the dormitory of Kurama`s dorm and found him sitting there reading on the red couch like he normally did at 5:30. Sitting in the red arm chair was none other than Hiei.

I walked up to my favorite pair of demons, my hands shoved in my jacket pockets, annoyance written all over me. Hiei had his eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest as he sat in his normal silence. But…he was wearing human clothes.

Hold. The. Phone.

Wearing a black hoody and jeans with converse…Hiei.

"Hey Shuichi, want to introduce me to your friend?" I asked politely.

Hiei opened his eyes, acknowledging me for the first time, "Nothing`s changed."

I took a seat next to Kurama, "So what are you doing here?" I asked him.

Hiei looked a bit annoyed as he 'hn'd and looked away from me. That`s when I noticed he had an earring. That was very un-Hiei-like.

"Hiei has temporarily lost access to his power," Kurama explained. "Hence the earring that you see on his left ear. It was put there by witches in Demon World so he came here seeing as he is no stronger than a human at the moment."

I frowned at his wording. That was probably pissing Hiei off more. From the anger in his red eyes, I could definitely tell that it was. "Mukuro couldn`t help you?" I asked him.

"Wouldn`t," Hiei clarified. "I`m starting to think she may have initiated the attack."

I stood up and walked over to him, carefully sitting in his lap and looking at the earring. Hiei glared at me while I ran my fingers over it. "If you try anything, I will kill you," Hiei growled.

"I am a woman," I told him. "If you need advice about jewelry, I should have been the first notified," I smiled as I pushed my hair back showing all the rings I had in my ear.

Hiei`s eyes widened as he stared at them. Most of the time, my hair covered them, but I did have a good few piercings. I was very different from Keiko, yet very interested in the tough guy characteristic that she was into.

"Unfortunately, none of them are magical like yours, but that doesn`t mean I won`t notice something you could have over looked," I said as I continued to look at it. "Foxy, can I have a light?"

I caught his phone and turned the flashlight on then shined it on the small stud that was in Hiei`s earlobe. It had an inscription on it.

"I need paper," I told Kurama.

Kurama was on his feet and next to me in a flash, "What did you find?"

"There`s something carved into it. It`s small, we`ll have to use a lead cover over it."

"Lead cover?" Hiei asked. "What the hell is that?"

"It`s where you take a piece of paper and a pencil then color over something to get a mold of something," Kurama explained. "It won`t hurt at all."

Hiei growled, "I wasn`t worried about the pain."

"It`s minimally invasive as well other than how close I am to you now," I told him. "You`ll hear me rubbing on it and it`s going to feel strange, but that`s it."

Hiei grumbled a bit, but didn`t fight back, surprisingly. Kurama handed me a piece of paper and a pencil and I started my work. I carefully folded his ear up and colored over the back of the earring just in case.

"Was there anything on the middle?" Kurama asked.

"Not that I could tell," I said. "It would be impossible to cover anyway. Not without taking the earring out, at least."

Hiei held the paper in his hands as he stared at the small font, aggravation written all over his face, "I can`t tell what the hell it says! It`s written too damn small!"


	3. To Study or to Cheat

I sighed as I took the paper from Hiei and looked at the small letters while getting out of his lap. Kurama chuckled at the attention we were getting. He knew we both hated it with a passion. Well, I just assumed Hiei hated it, he knew I hated it.

"So Hiei," I said while sitting back on the couch, "What in the world has made you go to prom?"

"Kurama," he answered nastily.

"It`s required by the school," Kurama explained. "Hiei won`t go with just anyone."

I smiled, "I`m honored you chose me over Keiko."

Hiei scoffed, "Like I would even think about a night with her. Her nasty stench would suffocate me."

I raised an eyebrow, "Hiei, I`m her sister. I`m just as human."

"You have more Spirit Awareness than she does," Kurama explained. "It doesn`t make you less human, but it does waver the human stench. Since Keiko has no Spirit Awareness, she has an entirely human smell."

"Which would be similar to…"

Kurama sighed as he thought about it, "It`s equivalent to someone who has not showered in a few months, but it gets fainter the more Spirit Awareness you have. You do not have a scent now. Keiko does."

I groaned, "Whatever. Stop trying to explain. If I ever smell it, I guess I`ll understand."

"Pray you don`t," Hiei grumbled.

I rolled my eyes at him, "So when is this prom thing anyway?"

"Next weekend," Kurama said. "Hiei and I will go shopping soon. When are you and Keiko going?"

"Hell if I know," I said. "Whenever she takes me, I guess. She`s weird like that. I hope she doesn`t take me. It`ll take all day to find a green dress, foxy."

Kurama smiled a bit, "I apologize. What about the purple you`ll be looking for?"

I shrugged, "I don`t think they make dresses that color."

Hiei leaned back in the chair, "Does that mean we don`t have to go?"

"Means we have to pick a different color," I grumbled.

Hiei glared at Kurama, "This is stupid. If I wanted to be a pathetic human, I would have asked Kuwabara for advice."

I laughed a bit, "I`m sure he would have appreciated it. But you are what you are, Hiei. Welcome to it. At least you`re not coming to the Human World without any sources. That would definitely suck, even though you prefer trees and stuff. So, are you keeping your sword here too or is that in Demon World?"

"It`s here," Hiei said. "Like everything else."

I raised an eyebrow at that, "So…why are you here rather than the compound? It wouldn`t be that bad living there with Yukina."

"It would be worse," Hiei said. "Kuwabara is there all the time. I would murder him."

I chuckled, "Certainly you could manage to over look that. Would you even be around him?"

"Do you even remember what Yukina is like?" Hiei asked. "She`d constantly invite me to eat with them and then Kuwabara would ask why I was living there with just Yukina and get jealous then I would have to explain why it was fine for me to live there and why it was not ok for him to live there."

I laughed, "Yeah that would be annoying. So, he still doesn`t know?"

"And he won`t ever know," Hiei said sternly.

"I wasn`t gonna tell," I defended.

"Hn," Hiei looked away.

I couldn`t get over the earring.

"So did it hurt?" I asked him. "When you got the earring?"

Hiei glared at me, "You won`t drop it, will you?"

"I can`t," I answered honestly. "It`s so unlike you."

"You`re worse than the fox," he muttered. "No. It didn`t hurt."

"The witches are tracking you," Kurama said as he looked at the paper. He had rewritten what the inscription said. I took it from him and looked at it. I couldn`t read it.

"Is this the script of the Demon World?" I asked.

"Yes," Kurama said. "It`s a dark curse. One that can be reversed, only with Human Energy. That is what makes the curse so hard on Hiei. He must form a relationship with a human in order for it to be released."

"Well, he`s got a few relationships," I said. "He`s got a relationship with me, he has one with Kuwabara, he has one with you, but I doubt that counts, he has one with Kuwabara, but he won`t count it, he has one with Keiko, but he won`t talk to her, there are plenty of relationships there."

"Not that kind of relationship, idiot," Hiei spat. "A more…annoying one."

I looked at Kurama for an answer because I knew I wasn`t going to get it from Hiei. "An actual relationship," Kurama stated. "A romantic relationship."

I laughed at Hiei`s annoyed look. "How cute! That`s just…" I stopped talking as Hiei smirked at me. "Oh hell," I grumbled. "So…we can`t fake it. We`ve…we`ve got to actually…oh boy."

"Hn," Hiei grunted as he stood up. "At least you`re not as miserable to be around."

With that, he walked away. I sighed as I looked Kurama. "What`s his problem?" I asked.

"Believe it or not, he suggested you to be his human partner," Kurama said. "Give him some time. He isn`t enjoying living the human life. Would you? After becoming so strong, just have everything taken from you that you`ve fought so hard for?"

I stared at Kurama, "He didn`t lose the necklaces, did he?"

"No, he still has them, fortunately. I don`t believe Mukuro would have gone that far."

"Apparently she would if she thinks Hiei`s going to let her live after he gets his power back," I stated.

Kurama sat silently for a moment, "That is true. He may kill her the second he gets his power back."

"When he gets his power back, will it be his full power or will it slowly return?"

"I don`t know," he answered honestly. "If it`s his full power, it may overwhelm him and destroy him. If it slowly returns, he won`t be able to return to Demon World immediately."

I heaved a sigh, "That just complicates everything. So, what if Hiei actually likes this relationship, since we actually have to…put some effort into it. He`s not going to want to leave."

We just looked at each other. My eyes left my red haired friend to my bad ass demon 'lover' that was leaning against the window and watching cars drive by. I couldn`t imagine the pain in his heart.

Hiei must have had some demon left because his red eyes found me watching him and he glared a bit, pain trying to hide away, but not able to hide before I could see it.

This curse was tearing him apart. I got up and walked over to him, gently taking his hand in mine. He looked at our hands then me, "What are you doing?"

"There`s physical contact in a human relationship," I explained. I smiled at his disgusted face, "We`ll work on it. Don`t worry. C`mon, let`s go for a walk."

"You hate walking," Hiei stated.

"Relationships are about compromising as well," I told him. "You hate being inside and I`m about to go insane if I stay inside much longer. Besides, this will be a good time to decide what shade of purple to wear."

Hiei scoffed, "I wish I hadn`t agreed to this."

I dropped his hand, "Then find a different human," I said easily. "Won`t bother me a bit."

Hiei glared at me, "I didn`t mean you, idiot. I meant the dance thing. I wish I hadn`t agreed to this school thing with Kurama."

I was surprised he grabbed my hand again and kept a firm grip on it. His hand was calloused from years of using his sword in battle. I could also feel the roughness of battle from fighting.

"Can you use the Jagan Eye?" I asked.

"No, I can`t even sense it."

"Then school is going to suck," I said. "Unless you`re good at cheating and seeing as how you were a thief, cheating and lying should come second nature to you."

He just rolled his eyes, "What do you do to get through school?"

"I study like Kurama," I said. "But I`m also human. I`ve been doing it all my life. It`s just what humans do, I guess. You may have lived through some of what we talk about in class and be able to tell a firsthand experience of it, but I doubt it. Kurama probably can, but you never know. But we can work on your cheating skills. It`s pretty easy."

"You know how to cheat, but you study anyway?"

"Who do you think taught Yusuke how to cheat? Idiot couldn`t figure it out on his own."

Hiei chuckled, clearly amused, "You are nothing like the other humans."


	4. Sweet Snow

As Hiei and I walked hand in hand, I noticed he was observing everything.

"Have you ever experienced the Human World?" I asked.

_"Why would I?" He asked._

_I sighed at his grumpiness. "That`s what I thought," I said lightly. "Well, we need to figure out what you like, what you don`t like, stuff like that. You`re human now, Hiei. We need to know your human needs, if you like sweet things, salty things, if you`re allergic to anything. Stuff like that."_

"Sango!" Someone called.

Hiei and I stopped walking and looked back. _I felt my eye twitch in annoyance when I saw the forest green uniform that my school promoted. It looked just like the one I wore through middle school, only it was green. I loathed it with the intensity of all the hate Hiei had to humans._

_I recognized the girls from my Chemistry class. I had no idea what their names were, but they were friends of Keiko. Everyone was Keiko`s friend though…_

_"Yeah, what?" I asked as I let go of Hiei`s hand and crossed my arms over my chest, my irritation clear._

_Honestly, I had a reputation. People didn`t want to get to know me. At least, the girls didn`t. It was a prep school and girls came to learn and stalk the boys. That was basically the purpose of it. Only, I was the campus bitch, as I liked to think. I didn`t take shit and I didn`t listen to gossip. I ended whatever rumors I heard that I knew were untrue as soon as I heard them and I was in detention more than I was in class._

_They were gawking at Hiei. Honestly, you would think they had never seen a man before. Of course, Hiei`s bad ass charm was probably something they had never seen._

_"Aren`t you going to introduce us to your friend?" One flirted._

_"No, because I don`t know your names," I stated bluntly. "And he`s not interested in you. He`s my boyfriend. Keep looking and I`ll gouge your eyes out."_

_They glared and sulked off. I sighed as I rested my hand on my hip. Hiei just scoffed, "Humans. Pathetic waste of space. I don`t know why Koenma insists they stay alive."_

_I quirked an eyebrow at his statement, "That includes me."_

_"Hn, I`ll consider sparing you."_

I chuckled a bit, "Warming up to me already?_ You move fast."_

_He glared, "You just lost your life."_

_I frowned, "Hiei, I was kidding."_

_"I wasn`t."_

_I glared at him, "Fine asshole. _I won`t spare you either. _Find a different human. They seemed interested. How long can you tolerate them?"_

_Hiei glared at me. Obviously, I had won that argument. "You wouldn`t."_

I smirked as I looked at my nails, "Don`t test me. _I just might. Now, are you ready to experience what the Human World has to offer?"_

_"I`m going to hate it," Hiei grumbled._

_I smiled, "Then we`ll start off with something everyone loves. Ice cream."_

_He just stared at me, "What the hell is that?"_

_"It`s basically frozen milk and sugar. It comes in a variety of flavors like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint, and so on. C`mon."_

I pulled him into the ice cream parlor and showed him the varieties._ I noticed he was staring at the vanilla one, clearly confused at what it was. "This…is ice cream?" He asked me._

"Yep," I said with a smile. "That`s vanilla._" He didn`t look convinced. I sighed as I leaned against it, "What`s wrong?"_

_"It looks like snow."_

_I hummed a bit, "That`s a good theory. It sort of is like snow, only it`s milk that`s been churned over ice with sugar and other stuff to change the taste."_

_"So…it`s…sweet…snow?" He asked uncertainly._

"If it helps you sleep at night," I said. "_It`s sweet snow."_

_He nodded, sort of understanding what it was. "What`s your favorite?"_

"I like this one," I said, pointing to one called Moose Tracks.

"It looks like it has mud in it," Hiei said.

"It`s got chocolate chunks and peanut butter cups in it," I told him. "If you`re not feeling too testy, keep it simple and go with vanilla. You can try mine if you want."

His crimson eyes stared at the Moose Tracks for a moment, then he nodded. "Ok."

I ordered him vanilla and Moose Tracks for me. Hiei just stared at it when the rather amused man handed him the cup of vanilla and me the Moose Tracks. I shot him a cold glare, daring him to make fun of Hiei.

We walked out and I offered my cup to Hiei, even though he hadn`t taken a bite of his own. "Try it," I said.

He looked uncertain.

I smiled as I scooped some and put it into my mouth, "Sweet snow," I told him. "Perfectly fine."

He looked at the ice cream and nodded, scooping some onto his spoon and taking a small bite then spat it to the ground, "It`s cold!"

"Snow…Hiei," I said, trying not to laugh. "It`s going to be cold."

Hiei was more confident for his second bite. It was clear he didn`t like the coldness, but he seemed to like the taste. So, he was a fan of sweets. Ok, who wasn`t?

He was eying my ice cream now. I chuckled a bit as I held it to him, "Go ahead."

"What`s chocolate?" He asked me as we sat down on the sidewalk.

"It`s…sweet. I don`t know how to tell you," I told him. "Even though I`ve seen _Willy Wonka_ and _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ 700 times I still can`t tell you what chocolate is. Damn."

"And what`s a peanut butter cup?"

"Chocolate covered peanut butter," I told him.

"What`s peanut butter?"

"Peanuts that have been crushed up until they`re creamy. Basically. There are other ingredients that help, but that`s basically it."

"What`s _Willy Wonka_ and _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_?"

"_Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ was a book that was written a while back that was turned into a movie first called _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_. It was later remade into _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_."

"And you have both?" Hiei asked.

"Yeah, do you wanna watch them?"

Hiei thought about it for a moment. He eventually nodded. I sighed as I pushed myself up, "Well, let`s go get Kurama."

Hiei stood up and grabbed my hand, "Just us."

I studied him for a moment, "Why?"

"To…get used to it."

I felt a faint blush on my cheeks. I wanted so badly to will it away, but I knew that would only make it worse. "Ok. We`ll have to watch it in your dorm. We can`t have guys in our dorms."

Hiei nodded, "I`ll tell Kurama."

We finished the ice cream in silence and went back to the schools, parting ways without a word. When I got to the dorm, I started searching for the two movies, while Keiko walked in.

"Where have you been?" She asked.

"With Hiei," I said. "We`re dating now."

Keiko squealed with excitement, "You must tell me everything!"

"I can`t," I said. "And don`t pester him about it. I think it`s a mission from Koenma. But it requires a girlfriend, and he picked me. So we`re going on a date so the rest of them won`t be so weird. Yay, movie night."

She stared at me in shock, "You are not having a movie night with him."

"Because you and Yusuke have never had any alone time," I said while rolling my eyes and holding up the movies. "And we`re totally going to have sex while watching Willy Wonka. Uh, no thanks. Way creepy."

Keiko`s face turned redder than Kurama`s hair. "You weren`t supposed to know about that!"

"You can`t hide shit from me," I said while pointing at her and walking out. "Leave the window open. That`s probably how I`m going to get back in. So don`t scream when Kurama knocks on the window."

I walked to the guy`s lobby and sat on the couch. This was annoying.


	5. Soda and Popcorn

I wasn't waiting long before Kurama walked up to me with an amused sparkle in those green eyes. "A date?" He asked as he sat next to me.

I held up the movies, "Totally gonna get some while watching this creep." I said while looking at Gene Wilder. "And Johnny Depp was just as creepy."

He chuckled a bit, "I wish you luck. Shall we go?"

"Where's Hiei?" I asked while standing up and following him to the elevator.

"In the room," he said. "He was getting out of the shower when I left. He was telling me you introduced him to ice cream."

I smiled a bit, "I tried to introduce him to chocolate as well. That's what led us to _Willy Wonka_. He wanted to watch both of them. Sorry for the inconvenience."

He shook his head as he pushed a button that was worn away from excessive use. "It's not a problem. As long as Hiei's comfortable, I'm happy to oblige. I have a meeting of my own to attend."

It was the manner he had said it that raised my suspicions, "You're going to Demon World?"

"No, I'm meeting with Shishi. I called and he was the only one heading back, so I decided to meet up with him before he headed back."

"Him?" I asked in disbelief. "He's more likely to be on Mukuro's side than ours, Kurama."

"I am merely asking if he knows anything about demon witches and if he hears anything about them to let me know. Should he ask why, I'll tell him Koenma mentioned hearing a rumor about it and is worried they may cross into the Human World."

"If they haven't already."

I followed him out of the elevator to the dorm. At this school, to walk down the halls was like the walk of shame. New girls didn't realize that. However, Kurama changed that rule. When I came up with him and went into his dorm, I heard the snickers down the hall. We stayed in the room for a while and simply talked. After a while, Kurama led me out and took me back to my school, but couldn't take me to my dorm, because it was against the rules. Along the way, he explained that he had overheard what the guys were saying. I simply laughed when he told me. When he asked me why I thought it was funny, I told him I was more afraid of his wrath than their rumors. Even he smiled and said he supposed that would be a good reason to not worry.

He opened the door and allowed me to walk in first then closed the door behind me, leaving me there with Hiei. But…I didn't see Hiei. Just the clean dorm with plants everywhere.

"Hiei?" I called as I walked in.

The bathroom was open and the light was off. His sword was in the corner of the room. Of course he couldn't just walk around with that thing. After a second, I didn't receive an answer. I sighed and shook my head. Whatever. I'd watch the movies without him.

I walked to Kurama's microwave and pulled out some popcorn when I heard the door open. Immediately, I didn't feel right. It wasn't Hiei. I looked over my shoulder to see a young man with cropped brown hair and deep brown eyes walking in. He was wearing a sky blue polo and jeans.

"I suggest you leave," I told him. "You don't belong here."

He gave me a charming smile, "I'm just looking for Shuichi."

"I'm not here for Shuichi," I told him. "I'm dating his roommate."

He chuckled, "That half pint?" He walked up to me, "Why don't you get a real man?"

I looked him up and down, "Compared to you, he is a real man. Real men don't try to take what isn't theirs."

I turned my back to him and pushed the popcorn button on the microwave. "Just who the hell are you?" Hiei asked, his voice trying to remain calm but the cold danger still showing.

I felt something wrap around my waist and I went into panic mode. Before I knew what had happened, the guy had a bloody nose and I was in Hiei's arms, trembling.

Something that made Keiko and me the same: our pervert defense. Only she slapped, I punched. And she would hit Yusuke, who was a pervert, but the few times I was touched by a pervert, I would run to Kurama for protection.

Hiei had a tight hold on me, but I heard him chuckle darkly. "Consider that a warning. Next time, I won't let her stop me. Get out."

The guy ran out of the room as he covered his bloody nose. Hiei held me at arm's length as I calmed down, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, where'd you go?"

"I went downstairs to get you. How'd you get here?"

"Kurama came and got me. The guys have weird rules about the hall." I held up the DVDs, "Pick one."

He looked at each of them then at me, "You're joking."

"Nope, these are the movies you wanted to watch."

"I don't want to watch them."

"Too late now. We're watching them now pick one."

He picked the Gene Wilder one with a disgusted look on his face, "Why are we watching the same movie?"

"One's a musical," I said as I put the movie in the DVD player then went to the microwave and pulled out the popcorn.

"What's that?" Hiei asked as I opened the bag allowing the salty, buttery goodness to fill the room.

"Popcorn. A must have during movies. Along with soda. What do you want to drink?"

He was quiet as I got up and went to the fridge and pulled out a coke then looked at him. "Well?"

"I don't know what 'soda' is," he told me.

I sighed as I rubbed the back of my neck. I looked at the can and opened it with a pop from the carbonation. Hiei's eyebrows met with confusion and apprehension as I walked up to him, "It's a flavored drink with carbonation in it. The pressure from the carbonation made it pop like that. Here."

I pulled a cup from the cabinets and poured the liquid out which only made the experience worse for Hiei. The brown foam sizzled down and the bubbles slowly floated to the top and popped.

"It's…brown," Hiei stated.

"Would you like water instead?" I asked.

He nodded but I still handed it to him, "You have to try it before you turn it down."

He glared at me then handed it to me, "You first."

I smiled and took a gulp of it, "Why don't we go to the bathroom? That way when you spit it out it's not all over the room."

"Why will I spit it out?" He asked as he followed me to the bathroom.

"Well, it's cold," I said, remembering how he treated the ice cream sweet snow. "And the carbonation sort of burns your throat. So don't choke."

He stood in front of the sink and looked at the drink skeptically, "Is it going to do anything to me?"

I searched his eyes for a moment then took the drink back from him, "Don't worry about it for now."

I moved by him only to find he hadn't completely lost all of his strength when he grabbed me and pinned me to the wall. He looked just as hurt as I felt. "I'm…sorry," he said quietly. "I…I've seen humans drunk. I meant that. Not poisons."

I laughed a bit, "Do you really think Kurama would let me drink? C'mon now."

Hiei chuckled a bit and took the drink from my hand with a sigh he lifted it to his lips and swallowed hard. "No," he said. "I don't like it."

I rolled my eyes as I took the drink back, "You don't like anything. You choose not to like anything. That's what your problem is. Back on the bed. You have to try popcorn."

He sighed as he wandered to the bed. I noticed he was dressed in sweatpants and a wife beater. He looked more comfortable than he had earlier.

"Hiei, are you ok with this?" I asked as I sat next to him.

"I have to be," he grumbled as he reached into the bag of popcorn and pulled out a piece then looked at it. "Just what the hell is this?"

"I…actually don't know. It's got salt and butter on it. And if you're not careful it gets stuck in your teeth for like three months which hurts like hell. And it makes you choke if you're not careful."

He looked at me, "Two things that could make me choke. You are trying to kill me."

I smiled, "I will when you're actually a challenge again."

The amusement on his face was gone with that statement as he glared at me. I smiled a bit, "C'mon grumpy pants. You've had fun today. We had a good time and you're getting better. We found the answer to the problem. That's what matters. Mukuro thought it was impossible, but no. You'll get your revenge."

I pushed the play button as I ate a piece of popcorn. "I thought you were against revenge," Hiei said.

"I always said it was beneath me," I told him.

"I'm superior to you," he said.

I rolled my eyes, "So if you get your revenge you'll be beneath me, is that what you're saying?"

"No, that's what you're saying," he said.

"Well, I agree with your revenge," I told him. "I never liked Mukuro. I figured she was using you, but I also figured that was the demon thing to do."

"What do you mean?"

"The rise to power," I told him. "You just use each other and when you're finished, you kill each other off. Hardly any sense of loyalty." I folded my arms behind my head as I watched the candy man sing to the kids. "It's probably rare when a relationship like what you have with Kurama comes around, isn't it?"

Hiei looked at the popcorn piece and ate it without me bugging him. He almost spat it out, but he swallowed it. "I don't like that either," he told me.

I laughed a bit, "I'm sorry."

We watched a good part of the movie in silence, but I could tell the singing was getting on his nerves. "You really understand demons," he said while Charlie's mother sang as she watched Charlie walk home. "Is that from being around Kurama?"

"I think so," I said. "But I think it's from something else as well. A while back, my family and I were in a car accident. I was by definition dead for ten minutes, but they revived me. I had to have a blood transfusion. Yusuke was the one that donated since he was the only match."

"So you have some demon blood," he said.

"Not anymore," I told him. "Those cells have long died off, but with his blood, my Spirit Energy woke up since it was after the whole Spirit Detective thing started."

"You seem to take it a lot better than your sister," he said distantly.

I heaved a heavy sigh, "She's complicated. She wants Yusuke. She's going to wait for him. I have no doubt about that. Unless he does something stupid in Demon World and gets killed which is completely possible. But, she is getting tired of waiting for him."

"Are you waiting for someone?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Not really. I'm just along for the ride. Keiko was the one that all the guys wanted. No one ever noticed me. I didn't have any marvelous plans for marriage anyway. I figured if I absolutely had to get married, it'd probably be Kurama, if he'd have me. Even that's pushing something. I can see Kurama and Shizuru getting married though."

"You see yourself being alone for the rest of your life?"

"You do too," I told him. "What makes me so different?"

He was silent. Hiei knew I wasn't much different than he was. Sure I wasn't thrown off an island, but I still felt the sting of loneliness standing in Keiko's shadow. I enjoyed my loneliness, but I didn't enjoy the constant comparisons to Keiko.

My phone scared me when it suddenly screamed. I still hated Yusuke for making that ringtone. Every time someone called my phone screamed 'SANGO YOU BITCH! ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE!' But I couldn't bring myself to change it.

I pulled the screaming communication device out of my pocket and wanted to throw it out the window when I saw it was Keiko.

"You better have a damn good reason for calling me," I hissed.

"Was I interrupting something?" She asked.

"Charlie's about to go into the factory, now what the hell do you want?"

"Just making sure you weren't-"

I hung up and turned it off then threw it across the room. "I'm killing her when I get to my dorm."

Hiei just watched me for a moment, unsure of what to do as I watched the movie. I looked at him, "What?"

"Was that necessary?"

"Welcome to the human race," I said icily.

He chuckled as I sat silently and watched the bizarre movie. He would ask questions every once in a while about it. Some of them I couldn't answer because I hadn't read the book or I didn't know what the candies were called.

As far as I could tell, Hiei had learned a great deal about candy from the movie. He got to experience a musical and he was furious that the Oompa Loompas had got a song stuck in his head, though he wasn't quite sure how.

I was laughing at him while he walked around, trying to figure out how to get the song out. "Hiei, the only way to get the song out is by doing something else. You have to get your mind off it."

He grumbled, "Is that one a musical?"

"The Oompa Loompas sing and that's it. That I remember. This one's kind of weird."

"The other wasn't?"

"Well, I'll let you stare at Johnny Depp and let you wonder if he's going to rape you or not."

He raised an eyebrow at me. I chuckled and shook my head. "Nothing, but this time, we're doing something different, ok?"

He looked a bit uncomfortable. "What?"

"We're watching it like a couple."

"What did we do last time?"

"That's how I sit when I watch a movie with Kurama. Now, we're on a different level." I sat on the bed and it was suddenly awkward but I forced myself to ignore it. "We can keep it like we were earlier," I said as I held his hand. "Or there are other ways. Whatever you want to do."

"This is fine for right now," he said, trying to get used to it. "We'll work on it."

I nodded. "Okie dokie. Play."

I pushed the button and began the movie once again. We sat in silence for a while until a knock interrupted the movie. I started to get up, but Hiei stopped me and grabbed his sword, just in case. I laughed a bit.

"I heard that!" Keiko yelled on the other side of the door.

I rolled my eyes as Hiei sighed and opened the door. Kurama and Keiko walked in. Keiko looked furious, "What were you doing?"

I pointed at Hiei, who was holding his sword still and looked annoyed.

Kurama smiled at Keiko, "I told you nothing was going on."

"Why aren't you answering your phone?"

"_You pissed me off. _I turned it off and threw it somewhere."

"You are no better than Yusuke!" She screamed. "You can't help with this mission anymore. I won't let you."

I stood up and took the sword from Hiei, unsheathing it and handed it to her, "If you want to stop me from helping in this mission, you're going to have to kill me."

Keiko stared at me with teary eyes, "Y-You don't mean that."

"I have to do this, Keiko," I told her. "Hiei needs me."

She stared at me for a moment then dropped the sword, unable to do it and just left. Kurama smiled at us and left as well.

"You told her it was a mission?" Hiei asked.

I looked at him as I crossed my arms over my chest, "If I told Keiko the truth, who would she tell? Yukina? Kuwabara? Botan? Then you'll have all of Spirit World, parts of Demon World and Kuwabara knowing."

Hiei's eyes widened a bit, "You're amazing."

I smiled, "I know."

I sat on the bed and started the movie again. I felt my eyes starting to get heavy by the time they had made it inside the factory. I guess I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was on Hiei's shoulder and his arm was around me. Well…that had escalated quickly. His eyes were still concentrated on the screen in front of us. It seemed he understood this movie more.

"Was it better a second time?" I asked him.

"No," he said with a growl. "I still have that damn song stuck in my head."


	6. Attempting Replacement

I yawned as I sat up and looked at him, "Well, that's candy. C'mon. You need something to eat."

His stomach growled a bit which actually made him blush slightly and he looked away from me. I smiled and got off the bed, "C'mon lazy bones. We're getting pizza."

"What's pizza?" He asked.

"Bread, tomato sauce, and cheese. You can put meat and stuff on it too, if you want but you've been wanting to keep it simple. Do you want Kurama to come?"

He watched me for a moment then shook his head, "Should I change?"

"Only if you want to," I told him. "I've walked in there wearing stuff like that."

He raised an eyebrow, "Keiko let you?"

"She doesn't know," I said with a wink. I tied back my hair and slipped my shoes on. "Ready?"

He put his boots on and nodded. I picked up my phone and turned it on. After scrolling through my contacts, I wondered why half of them were in there. Finally I found Kurama.

"Hello?" Kurama answered.

"Hey Kurama, you can have your room back."

"You aren't staying the night?" he asked.

"Uh, I hadn't planned on it," I said uncertainly. "Keiko would kill me. And Hiei doesn't need the attention."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah, someone came in after you brought me to the room. I punched him in the face."

He sighed, "I'll see you when I return. Your dormitory has already closed for the night."

"Then where are you?"

"I'm at home with my mother."

I blinked and picked up the clock on the nightstand. 12:45. "Huh. Well, I'm sorry for calling you. I'll see you another day."

He chuckled, "Goodnight."

I hung up and just stared at the screen. I had no idea it was Saturday. Well, whatever. I looked at Hiei, "Let's go."

He followed me out, "Is something wrong?"

"I didn't know it was Saturday. Kurama used our date as a chance to escape. He went back to see his mother and my dorm is locked down for the night so I'm stuck with you for the rest of the night."

He sighed, "Wonderful."

I snickered, "It could be worse."

We took the stairs because I hated the stupid elevator and I knew Hiei would want the exercise. "So, did Kurama give you the campus tour?"

"Yeah."

"So, you know where the gym is?"

"Yeah," he said.

I nodded as we walked, "So how long do you plan to spend in there?"

"As long as I can," he told me.

"Good."

"Why?"

I sighed as I linked my arm through his, "Kurama and I were talking. When…your power returns, we don't exactly know how it's going to return. If it's a slow return, you'll have to stay in the Human World longer and let it slowly come back." I could feel the harsh hand of reality grabbing my heart as I looked at the sidewalk, "If it comes back at one time, going from zero to A-Class will kill you."

He was silent, allowing the information to sink in. I allowed myself to look up when we stopped at the end of the sidewalk before we had to cross the road, "While we were out today, he went to meet Shishi."

Hiei's full attention was on me, "Why?"

"Shishi is going to Demon World soon. I didn't like the idea of meeting with Shishi, but he insisted. Shishi is going to keep an eye open for demon witches while he's there. Kurama didn't tell him any connection to you."

When we walked into the pizza place, I was surprised Kuwabara was in there along with Keiko and Yukina. I immediately knew what she had planned. The three of them looked at us and Keiko stood up, "Yukina agreed to help in the mission. She's willing to be Hiei's girlfriend."

"She can't, Keiko," I said. "It has to be a human."

"Then we'll find someone else," Keiko said with tears in her eyes. "You died before. I can't lose you again."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "For ten minutes. Do you really think Hiei is going to let me die?"

"He doesn't care about you!" Keiko exclaimed. "You know he doesn't."

Kuwabara stood up and grabbed me by my shoulders, "Why can't you see it? He's never cared about any of us. We're just pathetic weaklings to him."

I glared and pushed him back, "No wonder he thinks we're pathetic weaklings and fools. You can't even see the truth when it's standing right in front of you."

I pulled Hiei out of there, too angry to even bother with the pizza. There were other places to get food. They knew better than to follow me when I was angry.

"You can let me go," Hiei said, amused at my anger.

"Shove it up your ass," I snapped at him as I let him go.

He grabbed me and pulled me to him, just holding me there, albeit a bit awkwardly at first as we just stood there. "Calm down," he told me.

I took a deep breath and rested my head on his shoulder, "Sorry."

I could feel him smirking. "You're hungry too," he said all too knowingly.

I looked at him, "How do you know that?"

"At the Dark Tournament you beat up Kuwabara for no reason then Keiko gave you something to eat and you were fine."

I blushed a bit, "Why do you remember all this stuff?"

"Blackmail."

Annoyed with him, I just looked away. Hiei forced me to look at him. "Now, stop being a pain and let's get some food."

I glared at him, but I knew he was right. I would only get angrier until I got extremely emotional then the wrong look would make me cry. I hated being like that.

We walked into a pizza place where you could create your own pizza. It was practically empty. I loved this place. Kurama and I came here once a week.

"Welcome to Pete's Pizza," the man greeted. "Oh, hey Sango! Where's Shuichi?"

"He went home for the weekend. I figured you'd like to meet my boyfriend. Pete, this is Hiei. Hiei, this is Pete."

Pete was an older man with thick glasses and a mustache. He had grey hair and a bald spot. In the world of pizza, he was a god.

Hiei looked at me then skeptically shook the guy's hand, "Hi."

Pete chuckled, "This is infamous Hiei? It's an honor to finally meet you."

I felt my heart stop. I had come here one time with Kurama after the Demon Tournament. Hiei had been badly hurt or something and I was in a panic. I was a wreck. Pete actually sat down and talked to me about it as well, asking me what was wrong and I just spilled it as best I could without telling all the details. He was worried when I didn't order the usual pizza.

I smiled at Pete, "So, Pete, Hiei's never had pizza before. Whatcha recommend?"

Pete smiled, "I know exactly what to get him. You want the usual?"

"No, get me something good. I haven't eaten all day."

He nodded and I put the money on the counter then sat at a table with Hiei. Hiei was watching me for a moment, "Why does he know who I am?"

"It was after the Demon Tournament and Kurama said you had been injured. I was already freaking out because of finals and then he just decides to lay that on me. Doesn't tell me how badly, just says that you fought Mukuro in the tournament and lost. I broke down."

"But…why?"

"Whether you like it or not, we're friends, Hiei." He scoffed and opened his mouth to argue, but I put my finger over his lips, "And you're weak. You need friends. You need me."

It was clear how frustrated he was that he couldn't read my mind. I just smiled at him. "Why would you worry? You knew I could handle it."

I thought about it, "It's hard to say goodbye. I knew you had no intentions of ever coming back. Yusuke…there was a chance I would never see him again. Kuwabara…there was a chance I would never see him again. It was by chance Kurama was here. After we graduate, Keiko wanted us to stay together, but I'm going my separate way. And when you're a demon again, I probably won't see you again."


	7. Realization

"Mortality is a sad thing," Hiei said quietly.

Pete put the pizzas in front of us and I smiled at the loaded pizza in front of me. He knew me well. Just what I needed to make me feel like a fat person, but I really didn't care. Pete knew I wasn't ashamed of my appetite. On Hiei's pizza, Pete had put some sausage, bacon, banana peppers, pineapple, and ham.

Hiei raised an eyebrow as he looked at my pizza with pineapple, banana peppers, bacon, and onions. "What the hell is on this?"

"You have sausage, bacon, banana peppers, pineapple, and ham. I have pineapple, banana peppers, bacon and onions."

Hiei just stared at me. I sighed as I picked up a slice and took a bite, "Just try it. And you better eat it. It's practically a full meal on dough."

He sighed as he apprehensively picked up a slice and skeptically tried it. After a moment, he nodded in approval. I smiled slightly, "See? Not everything is bad."

"Are you really afraid of saying goodbye?" Hiei asked.

I looked at him then picked up my second slice. "It's an unfortunate trait Keiko and I share," I said quietly. "You're a demon, Kurama's a demon, Kuwabara has Spirit Energy, and Yusuke has that demon thing going on with him. We're normal. Like we're frozen in time and all we can do is watch as the four of you get farther and farther away."

I sighed as I looked at him, "We know that one day the four of you are going to walk away and never come back. Living a normal life isn't what you were meant to do."

"Never come back," he said distantly as he stared at his pizza. "You think I wouldn't come back? Yukina's here. Demon World is too dangerous for her."

I propped myself on my head on my hand as I looked at him, starting my third slice, "You wouldn't visit Yukina. You know that. Not for a personal visit. Your Jagan Eye is enough for you. That's why you got it."

He looked at me, "I plan on telling her while I'm stuck here."

I leaned back, "Are you ready for that?"

"If I have to fall in love, I might as well set things right while I'm here."

I chuckled a bit as I shook my head, "You don't even understand what love is. This is going to take forever."

He looked at me, "What do you mean?"

"You can't fake it, Hiei," I said. "You've got to mean it." I picked up another slice, "Did you pick me or did Kurama suggest me?"

"Kurama suggested you and I was more comfortable with you than some strange human," Hiei said. "Why?"

"I'm killing Kurama," I said as I placed the slice back down suddenly losing my appetite.

Reality was setting in. This curse was Mukuro's way of getting rid of me as well. She knew I loved all of them, but I favored Hiei. And when he got his power back, if he ever got it back, he would have to choose between his two loves. The one he fell in love with, a human, or his true love, his home.

I didn't realize we had left until I felt the cold night air on my face.

"Why'd we leave?" I asked Hiei.

"You were crying," he said. "I asked you what was wrong and you didn't answer. Why were you crying?"

I smiled slightly, "You'll understand one day. Maybe."


	8. We'll Work On It

We went back to Hiei's dorm and just sat there. I was tired of my mind running a million miles a second. I just wanted to scream.

"What are you thinking?" Hiei asked, irritation lacing every syllable of his question.

I looked at him and noticed he was a blur. Tears were blocking him again. If I kept this up…he would realize something really was wrong. I would have to tell him then. I blinked the tears away and looked away from him, "It's nothing, Hiei. Don't worry about it."

"It's something," he said, getting off his bed and sitting next to me. "You never cry."

I shook my head while I sighed, "It's too complicated."

He leaned back against the wall as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, his way of showing he wasn't giving up. "Tell me anyway."

I sighed as I shook my head and looked away from him, "I can't. It'll break you."

His crimson eyes were like burning coals slowly sinking into my soul as he gazed at me, "What are you talking about?"

I took a deep breath then let it go as I looked at my shaking hands, "I…can't tell you, Hiei. If I do, it'll mess everything up."

"If you tell me, and it doesn't mess everything up, will you stop crying?" He asked.

"I…I don't know," I answered honestly. "It depends on you."

He studied me for a moment, "Do you think you can do this?"

I looked at the TV then sighed, "I'm going to have to buy some movies and see which one has the best definition of love. Because when you figure out what's happened to you, you're going to freak right out."

He stared at me, "What are you talking about? What happened to me?"

"This curse thing. You have no idea what those witches have done to you."

"And you're not telling me," he said angrily.

I knew he would be angry. He got up and glared at me, "And you're the one upset about it? What do you think this is doing to me?!"

"Hiei. If you fall in love with me and get your powers back, you're going to have to choose. Me or Demon World. Right now it doesn't seem like that hard of a decision because you don't love me. But…if you ever do…you're going to be torn apart."

He sat on his bed, frustration clear on his face as he realized what was really happening. "That bitch," he cursed.

I got up and sat next to him, gently rubbing his back as I rested my head on his shoulder, "We'll work on it. We'll find a way."

He looked at me, "You're willing to do this? Love me and let me go?"

I felt a light blush on my face as I smiled slightly, "Whatever it takes to make you happy and get you home, Hiei. I've seen you suffer for our sakes, I'm willing to suffer for you."


	9. Alternate Way

When I woke up in the morning, Hiei was gone. Big surprise there. I yawned as I stretched and grabbed the key off the nightstand, knowing Hiei had forgotten it. I knew where to find him.

I ignored the laughter and rumors around me as I locked the door and walked down the hall to go to the gym. After crossing the campus to get to the gym, I saw Hiei working out and sighed as I walked in. All the guys stopped and watched as I crossed the floor to get to him.

Hiei put the weights back on the bar and looked at me, "What?"

"Forgot your key," I said. "Shuichi would kill us both if something got stolen from the room. Try to be more careful."

Hiei looked at the key in my hand, "You keep it. I'll find you when I'm done."

I rolled my eyes with a smile, "Don't push yourself, Hiei. You've got to remember what it's like to have limits."

I looked at the weights he had been using. My heart broke. He was remembering. Even I could lift more than twenty pounds with one hand. Hiei had trained me to get that strong.

I felt sick as I looked away from the weights, tears stinging my eyes. "I'm…going back to my dorm. I'll see you later."

Hiei grabbed me and held me close to him while the tears slowly fell. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

I just shook my head as I kept my forehead against his sweat soaked shirt. He wanted so badly to be strong again. And so did I. But…he would never get stronger.

I took a step back from him and sniffled. "I'm going to find another way," I promised him. "We're getting you back to normal, Hiei. I swear to you that."

I pulled the necklace off my neck and put the key on it then handed it to him, "Now, don't lose the key. I don't know when I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going to talk to Jin," I said.

His eyes widened. The last time I had associated with Jin was to go to the Demon Tournament.

"You can't be serious," he said.

"Don't try to stop me," I told him calmly. "I'm tired of watching you do this to yourself. I'm tired of seeing this…pain in your eyes." I sighed as I looked at him, "You'll never love me Hiei. Or any human. Mukuro knows that."

"And what good will it do by going to Demon World and getting yourself killed?" Hiei asked me angrily.

I looked away from him, "I'm getting Yusuke. He'll know what to do."

Hiei knew that was true. Yusuke was the best to consult in matters of love. He would be the best to advise Hiei in the matter of an area he had never explored.

Hiei reached in his shirt and pulled out one of the Hiruseki stones and took it off then put it over my head. "This will protect you in Demon World," he told me. "It has my scent on it and no one will approach you if you're ever alone. Stay out of Mukuro's territory."

I gave him a small smile while his crimson eyes searched my brown ones. I wasn't sure what compelled him but, he placed a kiss on my forehead, "Be careful," he whispered gently.

I smiled slightly, "Don't tell Kurama. He'll kill us both."

Hiei put the necklace on and pulled me into a tight hug. I skeptically kissed his cheek, "Bye," I whispered.

He tensed up as he released me, his eyes wide with shock. I smiled a bit and left the gym to go to my dorm. It felt like it had been forever since I had been in there.

Keiko was working on some paper that wasn't due for another month. I rolled my eyes as I pulled a bag from my closet and started packing clothes.

"You didn't come back last night," Keiko told me. "You know every time that happens, they tell our parents."

"Yeah, yeah," I told her as I continued packing. "I'm going to the compound for the rest of the weekend. Jin and I have business to discuss."

Keiko turned to me, "You can't be serious. You're dating two demons now?"

I stopped packing and looked at her, "I could barely handle Yusuke when he was here. Do you think I could handle Jin? Really?"

"Then what business do you have with him?" She prodded.

"It's about the mission," I told her. "I can't talk about it."

"What? So you're the new Spirit Detective now? And Hiei's your new partner? He doesn't care about the human race!" She exclaimed.

"Keiko, mind your own business," I told her. "This is between me and Hiei."

She glared at me, "It involves me if you're involved. You have got to learn that! You can't keep risking your life for someone that pushed you into Demon World!"

I didn't look at her. "Keiko, I have to this time. Hiei's involved in something that's so much worse than you realize. I've got to go to the compound. I'm asking Touya to go to Demon World and getting Yusuke. We need help."

She went silent. It was serious if Hiei was actually letting me go get help.

"Hiei's letting you go?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah," I responded. "I just told him goodbye." I zipped up the bag, "And now I'm telling you goodbye."

Her head snapped in my direction, "What?! School starts back tomorrow!"

I sighed, "Keiko, we're out tomorrow. Even Kurama remembered that. Besides it's Spirit Week or something. All week is practically skip week. The classes we miss aren't getting counted against us. Check your email. You'd know that if you'd check it."

She huffed and I walked out, walking to the bus stop. I pulled out my phone, calling Kurama.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kurama," I responded. "When are you coming back?"

"What happened?" He asked, concern in his voice. "Are you alright? Where's Hiei?"

"He's in the gym," I said lowly. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to the compound."

"You're…leaving? Why?"

"I'm…going to get Yusuke," I told him.

"You won't last in Demon World," he said desperately.

"Don't try to talk me out of it," I said quietly. "Kurama…this is the only way. Hiei…he's never going to love a human. And even if he did, he would leave me for Demon World as soon as the chance came."

Kurama was silent, "I understand. She gave him an impossible choice. You're making it for him."

I sighed as I glanced back at the school, "It's getting harder on Hiei. He's…understanding, I think. But I still have to go to Demon World."

"What are you going to do?" Kurama asked as I stepped up the stairs onto the bus and paid the bus fare. It was going to be a long ride to the middle of nowhere. I took a seat in the back.

"I'm getting Yusuke. See if he knows anything or can help Hiei. You know, Yusuke gets stronger when he fights for someone he loves. If Hiei can understand that, maybe we can help him through another way."

He sighed, knowing I wouldn't give in. "Be careful," he told me.

"Just, get back as soon as you can," I told him. "Hiei needs someone to take care of him."

Kurama chuckled, "He would love to hear you say that."

I smiled sadly, "I'm sure he would."

Kurama sighed, "Cheer up. He's going to be fine."

"I know," I said quietly. "It's just getting back to fine that sucks."

With that, I hung up and watched the world go by. The sun was setting when I got to my stop. I walked off the bus and started up the long path up the mountainside. When I got to the top, I could hear Kuwabara's stupid laugh.

"We have a visitor," Touya said suspiciously.

"I'll protect you, Yukina, my love!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"It's just Hiei," Sazuka said carelessly.

"The energy is too weak to be Hiei," Touya said.

I walked to the room and slid the door open, "You guys are noisy."

"Sango!" Everyone exclaimed, surprised it was me.

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes, "Why do you feel like Hiei?"

"We're doing a mission together," I lied smoothly. "I guess his energy has been rubbing off on me. Where's Jin?"


	10. Demon World

"Whacha be needin' lassie?" An Irish voice asked from over me.

I looked up to Jin who was floating over me."I'm going to Demon World," I told him. "I need someone to take me."

Jin grinned, "Ah alweys be admirin' ya spirit lassie, but why ya goin'?"

"Hiei's sending me," I told him. "I can't discuss the reasons why he can't go."

Kuwabara grabbed me and shook me, "Are you crazy?! Demon World will destroy you!"

I rolled my eyes as I pushed him away, "Kuwabara stop being a girl. I have to do this." I sighed as I looked at Jin, "We're going to get Yusuke."

His long ears twitched excitedly, "Seein' Urameshi are yeh? Ah alweys thought 'e wos yeh sis's boy, bu' Ah alweys liked yeh better."

I laughed, "Most demons do. I don't smell as bad."

"Tha's true," Jin agreed.

He picked me up and we flew out, "So, lassie, wha's the rush ta Demon World? Yeh wan' meh ta stey?"

"You can if you want," I said. "I really just needed to get through. I didn't know where a portal was. But…Hiei and I have found a small conflict and we need Yusuke for an answer."

"Wha's wron' wit da wee demon? Why ya be smellin' like 'im lass? Did ya finally seal the deal?"

I rolled my eyes as we continued to soar through the night air. "No Jin. But, that was the goal, in a sense. Mukuro got Demon witches to curse Hiei. It's a nasty curse. He's…he's so weak. He has no energy at all. You can't even sense him. He's…practically human now. And the only way to break it is for him to love a human."

"Your lucky day," Jin said with a smile.

I gave a sigh, "Jin, I'm going to Demon World to find an alternate way to break the curse so Hiei doesn't have to choose. If…I can't make him choose between me and Demon World. I just can't."

Jin paused in his flying as he looked at me, "Yer a woman any man'd be lucky ta 'ave, lass. Hiei should give up Demon Werld jus ta 'ave a chance ta see ya."

I blushed a bit, "You're sweet, Jin."

He grinned and kissed my cheek, "Ah try ta be. We're almost there."

He continued flying and I rested my head on his shoulder allowing the breeze to help me fall asleep.

… … … …

I woke up with the urge to vomit. The smell of blood and rotting corpses filled my senses and I knew we were in Demon World, or close. I opened my eyes as Jin touched the ground.

"Well, 'ere we are!" Jin said cheerfully.

I sighed as I looked at the barren plains. Just the orange sands and canyons everywhere that stretched into the red skies with black storm clouds.

I looked at Jin, "We have to avoid Mukuro at all costs. Yomi wouldn't tell her if we were here, would he?"

"Nah," he said as he scratched his ear. "S'long as we didn' give our real reason as ta bein' 'ere. When we get ta Gandara, ya ough' not ta mention it. Til then ya can."

"I have no need of speaking about it until we find Yusuke," I said. "It's just finding him."

Jin nodded and picked me up then we started our long flight to Gandara. I knew how to stay calm around Yomi. If I could stay calm around Hiei, I could stay calm in front of Yomi. If anything, my heart would give away anger, not nerves. But, I would be able to hide it, I hoped.

When we landed in Gandara, Jin laughed goofily, "Yomi," he started, "Came ta see ya. We be lookin' fer Urameshi."

It didn't take long for the goat demon to find us. "Jin, how kind of you to visit again. And you brought the human girl to visit again. You're stronger than you were last time."

"Thanks, I guess," I said.

He frowned, "Not as fun as you were, I see."

"No, I'm much more fun, I've just got business," I told him. "We're looking for Yusuke and we need him fast. Any and all information would be amazing right now then I'll come back with all my humor and entertainment."

"What do you need him for?" Yomi prodded. "He's no longer Spirit Detective, as I recall."

"It's personal," I told him. "Unless you're willing to give information."

"And what price are you willing to pay for this information?"

"I'm afraid I have nothing of value to you," I said. "Nothing I'm willing to give," I clarified. "But I'm certain we can find to agree upon."

"I'm certain a fight is not too much to ask for," Yomi said. "It seems you've got the strength of an A-Class demon. You may actually be a challenge now."

I felt sick. And foolish.

"Very well," I agreed.

"Lassie! Surely not!" Jin exclaimed.

I looked at Jin and sighed, "I have to Jin. We need information. We don't have time to mess around."

I gently grasped the Hiruseki stone then followed Yomi to some arena where we could fight. I closed my eyes as I allowed my Spirit Energy to flow more freely. I had never really learned how to harness it, but I had figured out how to maintain some control of it. How to keep it flowing. Kurama had explained it was more of a barrier than a weapon.

Wonderful.

I sighed as I faced Yomi.

Yomi smiled, "Even though it's obvious that's Hiei's energy, you agreed to face me. And you still remain fearless and determined for this information. You're a stupid human."

"Yes," I agreed. "But I'm also a determined one. I will not back down simply because you are stronger than me. You'll have to kill me."


	11. Oh, Jealousy

Yomi attacked.

When Hiei said the Hiruseki stone would protect me…I guess he wasn't joking. My Spirit Energy suddenly materialized around me and it was a solid barrier on my skin. Though Yomi hit me and it hurt, it didn't kill me. I flew back and managed to land on my feet.

So…this is what it was like to fight.

My senses were on edge. I could hear and see things I hadn't heard or seen before. My entire body felt like it was moving faster than it ever needed to. Whatever amount of Hiei's energy was doing to me, it was certainly helping, but I needed a weapon.

As if on command, the purple energy that was lining my skin for a barrier moved to my hands as I blocked another punch-kick combo from Yomi. I slammed my fist into Yomi's rib cage and felt his ribs give under the force as he flew away from me. The fact I had dared to hit him must have caught him off guard.

When he caught his footing, he stood up, tall and proud as always.

"Enough," he said. "What information are you looking for?"

Suddenly, I was the weak human that was in Demon World again as Jin walked to my side again.

"I'm looking for any knowledge about Yusuke's whereabouts and anything about Demon witches and the curses they can place," I said.

A look of either disappointment or concern crossed his face, "So, one of your demon friends has been cursed by the Demon witches? What are the terms of the curse?"

"Loving a human," I said. "They chose me to…love," I explained carefully.

"And what is your concern? That should make you happy, if it's Hiei."

I sighed, "It doesn't matter who it is when they belong in Demon World," I told him. "When they would rather be here, they don't belong in the Human World with a human that they were forced to love just to get rid of a curse. Any information on an alternate method would be fantastic. Loving a mortal is not an option right now. Causing pain to someone I care about…it's not an option."

Yomi smiled, "Your love for this demon is amusing. Yes, there are alternate methods. For instance, killing the witches, but I don't think you have the strength to do it. All of your friends are A-class demons and you would need an S-class to defeat the witches. I suppose Yusuke would be able to help you with that. Last I heard he was close to Raizen's grave as he usually is. That's where Raizen's kingdom was. How did this demon become cursed?"

I looked at Yomi, "You already know. Why are you asking?"

"Would you like to know why she would betray her second in command?" He asked slyly.

I sighed, "Humor me."

"There were rumors he was going to leave her to work with Yusuke. Yusuke's power is constantly increasing. As much as all demons hate to admit, the human is incredible. Only a fool would deny it. She couldn't offer him anymore power while under Yusuke, he could make an S-rank class."

I clenched my fists with anger growing in me. I let an angry sigh go as a tear fell from my eyes, "Thank you, Yomi. You've been more than helpful. If I can ever help you in the Human World, please let me know."

Yomi nodded, "I wish you luck on your quest."

Jin picked me up and we started to Raizen's grave where Yusuke had last been seen. I just hoped Yomi wouldn't turn me in to Mukuro. When we got to the grave, Jin touched down and looked around with clear frustration.

"Ah don' see 'im."

Somewhere in the unending pits of Demon World Yusuke Urameshi was wandering, becoming stronger. Here, at Raizen's grave, I was standing with Jin.

I looked at Jin, "Jin?"

He looked at me, his blue eyes filled with curiosity.

"How strong can you make me?" I asked him seriously.

He bent down to where he was looking me in the eyes, "Lass, ya don' need ta be ready fer any figh'in' 'ere. Ah'll 'andle whatever we cross, alright?"

"Not alright," I said. "I just fought Yomi. I don't know if I can fight another A-class demon, Jin. What if there's more than one? How many can you handle? I need training, Jin. We're in Demon World where everyone fights. I have to know how to fight. I can't be a sitting duck here."

He placed his hand on my head with a gentle smile on his face, "Lass, ya care too much 'bout someone tha' don' care nothin' 'bout cha. What're ya gonna do when ya figure tha' out?"

I glared at him. "Don't make me find Yusuke by myself, Jin. I'll train myself if I have to."

He blinked in surprise, "Ya can' mean tha'!"

"Try me," I told him.

He sighed and crossed his arms over his bare chest, "Fine. Bu' answer me this. Why ya care so much bout 'im when 'e don' care 'bout cha? So many humans can give ya a 'appier life 'nd ya goin' after a demon tha' don' even care 'bout ya."

I smiled at Jin. "Since when can a human offer me this kind of life?" I asked him as I gestured to the world around us. "If I started dating a human…when could I see you again? When could we have snowball fights in the middle of summer? Who would give me fashion advice? I would never see you again."

"Ya can visit!" Jin said. "Ya can' stay away ferever."

I smiled, "I know. So, start training me. Let's go Jin."

"Why no' wai' until we find Urameshi?" He asked. "Ah'm sure we'll find 'im soon."

"Stop arguing and train me, Jin," I told him. "I might have to fight those Demon witches."

Jin sighed, "Yer a stubborn one. Alright," he agreed. "Le's exercise tha' Spirit Energy."

I nodded and took a deep breath letting my Spirit Energy cover my body. Jin smiled, "Good. Now, we're gonna go fer a walk an' ya gotta keep ya Spirit Energy up the entire time."

So, we started walking.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Back ta Gandara," he answered with a grin.

I groaned. It was a two day flight with Jin flying. This was going to be a long ass walk.

"Oh," Jin said. "And, if we stop to rest, ya 'ave ta keep it up then too. Even while ya sleepin'. Ah'll wake ya up if ya start slackin'."

As we trekked across Demon World, I started getting more tired, but I fought it. I had to. I just had to alternate my Spirit Energy as we walked. Five days passed. We never stopped. When we got to Gandara, Jin smiled at me, but I was exhausted and hungry.

"Alright," Jin said. "Tha's enough. Le's ge'cha ta Urameshi. Sleep while ya can."

He picked me up and I was asleep before Jin even got off the ground.

… … … …

Cold water falling on my face startled me and I punched someone in the face. I stared at the bald man that was standing over me with wide eyes. After a moment, I recognized him.

"Hokushin?" I asked, surprised to see him.

He twisted his head back into place with a smile, "You're stronger. Jin said you had gotten stronger. Sorry to wake you like that. Yusuke said you wouldn't wake any other way."

I rolled my eyes. "Idiot," I mumbled. "Thank you Hokushin. Where is he?"

"This way," Hokushin said as he helped me to my feet.

I followed Hokushin through the clay castle and found Yusuke laughing with Jin. As soon as Hokushin and I walked in, Yusuke looked at me.

"Why do you feel like Hiei?" Yusuke asked when he saw me.

I showed him the Hiruseki stone that I kept hidden under my shirt. I sighed as I looked at Jin and Hokushin, "I'd really like to talk to Yusuke alone, if that's ok."

Hokushin and Jin walked out and I sat down by Yusuke. Over all, he hadn't changed. He was taller and I could tell he was stronger…even more mature, but not by much.

Yusuke sighed, "Jin said the old hag died."

I nodded, "Yeah. She did."

"So, how are you?" He asked as he sipped some tea.

"I'm…It's complicated."

"You know, for Hiei to give you that, it means something," Yusuke said. "At least that's what Jin said."

"Did he tell you why we were here?"

"No, dammit!" He yelled. "It's been aggravating the hell out of me! Are you getting married or something?" His face paled, "Is Keiko getting married?!"

I rolled my eyes as I tapped my cup on the table, "Hiei…He's in trouble." I looked at Yusuke, "A lot of trouble."

Yusuke blinked, "Hiei? What happened?"

"Right now he's stuck in the Human World pretending to be a human. Yusuke, he's weaker than I am. He's been cursed by the Demon witches…And to break the curse…he has to do the impossible."

Yusuke leaned forward, interested in what the answer was.

"He has to fall in love with a human," I told him.

Yusuke leaned back, realizing where I was going, "He…he chose you, didn't he? And you won't let him."

"Yusuke, I don't know what to do," I said as I rested my arm on the table then placed my head on it. "I've thought it over and over. Everyone agrees that I should just let Hiei suffer, well those that know he's lost all his energy. Keiko thinks I'm on a mission and I have to be his girlfriend."

Yusuke laughed, "You're still lying to her? She's going to figure it out."

I shook my head as I looked at him, the tears stinging my eyes, "Yusuke…I have to get Hiei back to Demon World. I can't stand it. I hate him being in the Human World. I don't want to be forced to love him. I don't want him to be forced to love me. I want him to come back and be where he belongs."

Yusuke sighed, "You wouldn't believe anyone if they told you he wanted to be with you."

I looked at him, confused. "What?"

Yusuke laughed, "He told me that a long time ago. It was when you first met. He said 'Finally, a human with a brain.' I figured that was just his way of saying he liked you."

I sighed as I shook my head, "He's getting used to me. Even I can tell that. He kissed me before I left." Before Yusuke could say anything, I pointed at my forehead. "Forehead."

"But still!" Yusuke said. "That's something!"

I just shook my head, "He's accepting defeat. Mukuro's gone too far."

Yusuke sighed, "I don't see why I'm involved."

"I need training," I said. "And I might have to take you back to the Human World to kick Hiei's ass."

Yusuke blinked as he looked at me, "Are you serious? I'm busy here! You know, making sure demons don't try to take over the Human World!"

I stood up angrily, "That's what Hiei was doing! Then Mukuro caught wind that Hiei was going to leave her and join you!"

Yusuke got in my face, "Don't try to pick a fight with me, Sango! I'm a hell of a lot stronger than you think!"

"So am I," I hissed at him. "I went to Gandara before I came here. And the only way I could get information from Yomi about you was to fight him myself. I'm just as determined as you are, Yusuke. I'll fight you to my grave if I have to. You know damn well I will."

… … … …

Hiei sat in the window, watching the students cross the campus. Being human was driving him insane. But knowing that Sango had gone to Demon World without him…that was worse.

The door opened and he looked over his shoulder to see Kurama. Uninterested, he looked back out the window to watch the students again.

"Sango told me she was going to Demon World," Kurama said. "You didn't go with her?"

"She wouldn't let me," Hiei answered.

"Since when has that stopped you?" Kurama asked.

"She took Jin with her," Hiei said lowly.

Kurama paused before he put his things away. Had he heard right? Jealousy?

"Hiei, are you feeling alright?" He asked as he started putting his things away.

He didn't look at Kurama. "I'm fine," he responded through bared teeth.

Kurama could feel some of Hiei's energy coming back. He…he was falling in love with Sango. And so quickly. And Sango didn't even want him to.

"You miss her," Kurama said.

Hiei scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous."

A small smile formed on Kurama's face, "It's alright to admit it, Hiei. It will break the curse sooner."

"I can't," Hiei growled as he looked at the fox. There was so much pain and anger in the small demon's eyes Kurama didn't realize what he had missed in his short time away. How much had the pair bonded?

Hiei looked back out the window. "I can't," he responded more calmly. "If…if I love her…if she loves me, I'll hurt her. I don't want to hurt her, Kurama. I won't make her happy. I can't make her happy. I don't want to make her miserable."

Kurama knew he would get an earful from Sango when she returned, but it wouldn't hurt anything to tell Hiei.

"Hiei," the small demon looked at him. The red head sat down in his computer chair and sighed. "Do you even realize how long she's loved you?"

Confusion crossed the demon's crimson eyes at first then realization. "How long?" He asked quietly.

"She informed me sometime after the Dark Tournament that she found you interesting. I believe sometime after that and before Sensui she fell in love with you but told no one. It wasn't until after you pushed her into Demon World that she confessed it."

Hiei calculated it. Four years. At least.

Kurama sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "When she confesses something, it's so she can get over it," he told Hiei.

Hiei knew that about the girl. She had come to Hiei on more than one occasion just to tell him something meaningless that she felt guilty about or just to rant about something. Sometimes he would listen, most of the time he wouldn't because he didn't care for human matters. The times he did listen were when he came to her so angry she would be crying.

Even when his energy was hidden from everyone else, when her anger was flaring like that, she was able to find him. That's why he would listen to those rants. They were meaningful, sometimes.

Thinking back, he hated seeing her cry. She would sit under the tree he was sitting in and just rant like no tomorrow, not caring what the humans passing by thought, if he was in the park.

The tightness in his chest seemed to get tighter.

He cared about the human girl. Whether it was love or not, he didn't know.

"She…wanted to get over me," Hiei repeated, letting the words sink in. She didn't want to love him. But, that was four years ago. She didn't seem to be bothered by it now.

"Yes, but she's different now, as you can tell," Kurama said. "Admitting that she had feelings for you didn't dampen them. It made them stronger. Usually admitting them will put them out immediately. She one time came to me about having feelings for me. She said it then sighed and said she felt better then walked away."

"Do you think it's because she hasn't told me?"

"No," Kurama said. "I have no doubt she told you while I was gone."

"She never said a word," Hiei said.

"What did she say before she left?" Kurama asked.

"She said she's willing to suffer," he answered quietly. "She's willing to love me and let me go."

Hiei looked at his long time friend who had the usual unreadable look on his face.

"What's she going to do?" Hiei asked.

Kurama looked at Hiei, "Whatever she can. She has no intention of returning Hiei. She'll take on all of Demon World to find an alternate answer for you. She doesn't want your love and she's convinced herself she doesn't need it. But, she'll always love you. I'm afraid this will destroy her."

Hiei growled, "Because she's too damn stubborn."

"Is she?" Kurama asked. "When this first started, would that have been such a bad idea?"

No. Hiei would have killed anyone to have gone back to Demon World and had his power back. He couldn't say that anymore. If he was told the only way to get his power back was to kill Sango, he would have to sit on it and just think about it. He wouldn't know how to react.

For the first time in his life, power was not his goal.

He got out of the window as he looked at Kurama, "I need to go to Demon World."

"You're in no shape," Kurama said.

"That doesn't matter," Hiei said angrily. "She's there. I'm going."

"I can't go with you. Go to Genkai's and get one of them to go with you. You can tolerate Touya."

"Hn."

He packed a bag and left.

When he arrived to Genkai's, he went to the dojo where he knew Touya would be. He could feel the cold before he opened the door. When the door slid open, he stopped at all the glares.

"What?" Hiei asked.

"You didn't have to send her to Demon World, you ass," Kuwabara yelled. "What the hell did Sango do to you to deserve to die?"

Hiei glared at him, "Don't judge what you don't know. I'm going after her. Touya, can you take me to a portal?"

Everyone was silent for a moment. Hiei was asking for help?

He growled impatiently.

Touya walked out and Hiei closed the door, walking with the quiet ice demon.

"Hiei, what's going on?" Touya asked.

"It's complicated," Hiei answered vaguely. "I lost access to my powers. The only way to get access to my powers is by falling in love with a human."

Touya was silent, keeping his thoughts of the impossible running through his mind.

However, Hiei could sense the gist of his thoughts.

"As impossible as it sounds, Kurama and Sango still put forth the effort to try. Sango realized it would be impossible and went to Demon World to find an alternate method."

"You didn't go with her," Touya said, displeasure clear in his voice. "She loves you with every fiber in her body. And you just toss her aside like she's nothing." He sighed and shook his head. "You and Yusuke treat these women…these humans like they're nothing. What are you going to do if she's dead when we get to Demon World? What are you going to do if she falls in love with Jin, a demon that treats her right like she deserves to be treated?"

That overwhelming jealousy took over Hiei again, "Jin doesn't treat her right," Hiei said angrily. "If you paid attention, you would know that. When she's around Jin, she's constantly reminded of Yusuke. It reminds her of all the pain Keiko's been through and it breaks her heart."

That's what most of the rants were about when Sango came to him. Yusuke and Keiko and how much they pissed her off. Sometimes, she came just to talk. Kurama would be too busy to talk or listen. He didn't realize how stressful a human life could be until the girl started talking to him.

He remembered how she said she envied him. How she wished all she had to worry about was power and people killing her or killing other people. He never told her there was more to a demon's life than that, but there was no need in correcting her. She did have the general idea of the demon life and compared to what she brought to him, it was simple.

"So, you do care about her," Touya said.

He looked at the ice demon who had been watching Hiei walk silently for God knows how long while he thought of the human girl who was in Demon World because of him.

Hiei gave a frustrated sigh, "If I admit it, will you leave me alone?"

Touya had a smile on his lips, "That was all I needed to hear. If she's still alive, you should tell her. It might break the curse."


	12. Seeing Yusuke Again

Hiei and Touya walked silently through the portal to Demon World and found themselves in Gandara.

Hiei growled, "Why the hell are we here?"

"I don't know," Touya answered as he looked around. "We took the portal that would take us to Raizen's grave. That is the closest one to where Yusuke would be."

A low chuckle caught their attention. Hiei recognized it. How could he forget it?

He faced the goat demon with a glare, even though the blind goat demon wouldn't be able to see it or feel how much hatred Hiei was radiating.

"I was wondering when you would come, Hiei," Yomi said. "Or if you would come at all."

Hiei growled, "Where is she?"

Yomi merely chuckled at the small demon, "She's a lot stronger than you give her credit. Perhaps you would like to see what happened when she passed through."

Reluctantly, Touya and Hiei followed Yomi to his large home and found the strange technologically advanced room where he had in fact recorded the fight.

Hiei's blood ran hot, "You challenged Sango to a fight?!"

Yomi nodded but said nothing. Hiei watched the screen as Sango grabbed the Hiruseki stone.

Why? He wondered. Was she telling him goodbye? Though she was still determined to fight Yomi, she looked defeated. Like she had failed him. Was that her way of asking him to forgive her when she died?

He clenched his fists as Yomi attacked her. The Hiruseki stone began to glow for a moment, then Sango was covered in her Spirit Energy, which didn't help much, but still helped when Yomi's blow hit her. She didn't have much damage at all. The energy flooded to her hands, turning her hands purple with the energy when Yomi attacked again. She blocked the attacks then slammed her fist into his rib cage and Hiei could tell she had broken his ribs.

Then something unimaginable happened.

Yomi surrendered to her.

Hiei looked at the blind demon, "Where is she?"

"She was looking for Yusuke," he said. "But, I have a question for you before I allow you to go after her."

Hiei glared at the demon. He was tired of people questioning him.

"Why are you here?" Yomi asked. "Are you here because you're concerned about Sango, or are you here out of your own selfish reasons?"

Hiei's glare only hardened, "Hn. I don't have to tell you anything. Why did she fight you?"

"She wanted information," Yomi said while facing the screen fondly as if reliving the event was a great memory.

"What sort of information?" Touya asked.

"Where Yusuke was and how to break this curse on Hiei. There are more methods than I told her, but she left before I got to tell her all of them. Most of them will do considerable damage to her, though. I could feel her determination when we fought. Humans are foolish creatures when they fight for love."

Another thing Hiei was tired of. Hearing people call her foolish and stupid for fighting for him. He knew he didn't deserve her. He thought the same thing about Yukina, but there was nothing he could do about her, but watch from a distance.

"What are the other methods?" Hiei asked.

Yomi turned to the small demon. It didn't surprise him that he had asked, but the tone Hiei had used did. He didn't really want to know. But…Yomi had figured out Hiei's plan. If Mukuro attacked Sango while she was in Demon World, Hiei was willing to hurt her to get his power back in order to rescue her.

He was also willing to go back to the Human World, for her.

"You should have your power back," Yomi said.

Hiei ran his finger over his ear. The earring was still there.

"What are the alternate methods?" Hiei asked impatiently.

"I told her killing the witches would end it. The easiest method would have been for you to simply kiss her, but if you do that without loving her, you can never see her again. You can also find someone that you care about and kill them."

None of these options sounded pleasant.

"This curse was designed to make you suffer," Yomi told him. "To make you live with guilt and suffering that you will always regret the decision."

With that, Touya and Hiei left Gandara to find Yusuke.

Touya looked at the pokerfaced demon. "If you love her, you won't love her when you kiss her and you'll stay in Demon World so you won't ever see her again."

The dangerous crimson eyes pierced the cold icy blue eyes, "Don't make my decision for me. You have no idea what I'm going through."

"I don't?" Touya asked him. "I sit on the side with the others watching her suffer while she wastes her life away waiting for you. None of us are good enough for her. She only wants you, Hiei. Why, I don't know and I'll never understand. But we all tried, even Shishi."

Hiei stopped walking, ready to punch Touya in the face. "I should kill you," Hiei said lowly. "And you think I'm a terrible person for ignoring her? If anything, that's all I've done. I have not insulted her. I have not treated her badly. I pushed her into Demon World with every intention of going in with her. Yet, all of you go after her as if she is just some…thing…to have. You don't treat her like a friend, but as an object. You treat her like demons treat their mates. No sense of loyalty at all to her. You would have found another as soon as you returned to Demon World."

Touya opened his mouth to say something but Hiei's intense glare stopped him from speaking. The Dragon was alive in his eyes.

"Do not tell me that you care about her," Hiei said icily.

Hiei walked away, leaving Touya stunned and speechless. A small smile formed on the ice demon's lips. So, the demon did love the human girl…

… … … …

When Hiei and Touya arrived to Raizen's castle, they were greeted by Hokushin.

"We weren't really expecting you," Hokushin expressed while rubbing the back of his bald head.

"Is Sango here?" Hiei asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, she's sleeping," Hokushin said.

Hiei looked at the sky.It was mid afternoon. Why would she be sleeping?

As if reading his mind, Hokushin took them inside and began explaining, "She's been training nonstop since she arrived."

"Training?" Hiei questioned. "Why is she training?"

"I don't really know," Hokushin said. "She's keeping it between Yusuke, Jin, and herself. Yusuke just said train her and that's what we've been doing."

"Can I see her?" Hiei asked.

Hokushin stopped in front of a door, "This is her room. Please don't wake her. She hasn't slept all week. She refuses to rest until she passes out."

That sounded like her. Hiei quietly opened the door and closed it behind him. She was so battered. There were bandages all over her and what couldn't be bandaged was black, blue, purple, or a mixture of the colors as a cause from bruises. She was glowing a faint purple color. Even while she was asleep, she was training.

"She's doing that for you," someone said.

Hiei looked back to Yusuke who was leaning against the door. "I know," Hiei said quietly as he looked back to Sango.

Yusuke chuckled, "I gotta admit, Hiei, you got yourself a fighter. Lucky dog."

Yusuke patted Hiei on the shoulder with a snicker, "So when you gonna seal the deal?"

"I can't," Hiei said. "She…doesn't want to."

Yusuke stared at Hiei then punched him in the back of the head earning a growl and glare from the small demon, "What the hell was that for?"

Yusuke pointed at Sango, "You're going to tell me that she came to Demon World, fought Yomi, flew here when you know damn well she's terrified of flying and Demon World, walked all the way to Gandara and back with Jin using her Spirit Energy which put her at risk with Mukuro, then got the shit beat out of her for a week by me and Hokushin and you don't think she loves you?"

"I didn't say that," Hiei grumbled. "She doesn't want to love me. Like Keiko doesn't want to love you."

Yusuke blinked, but a solemn look fell on his face as he finally understood what his demon friend meant. "So it finally came to that," Yusuke muttered. "I was wondering when that would happen."

Hiei looked at him, "What are you talking about, Detective?"

Yusuke sighed, "Hiei…she's dying. The car accident that she died in a few years ago…Botan told me that she only had a few years left anyway. I…I guess time's up."


	13. Becoming a Demon

A white room never ending nothingness? This was familiar.

I sighed as I waited for Koenma to appear, just like he had last time.

Only, this time, Botan appeared with Koenma. I looked at the pair, confused as to why both of them would be here.

"Is…Is this it?" I asked the teenaged pacifier sucking brat Spirit World called a ruler.

"This is it," Koenma verified. "But, you won't die. Not completely. Just like last time, you're in the in-between. Yusuke transferred blood to you again. Demon blood."

"Then…Hiei…"

"Won't be able to get his power back by loving you," Koenma confirmed. "But, you will be able to stop Mukuro from getting to the Human World when you wake up."

I sighed as I stood there with the two. "Why am I in the in-between?"

"You're becoming a demon," Koenma said. "Temporarily. When you return to the human life, you probably won't have any Spirit Energy and when we researched it, the last human that had a blood transfusion with a demon never had access to their Spirit Energy again."

I sat down, my legs no longer able to hold me up. "I won't be able to see Hiei at all," I whispered. "I won't be able to see any of you."

"Koenma, isn't there anything we can do?" Botan asked.

"If Genkai was alive, there might be a way," Koenma said. "But there really is no way to help her after this is over. Sango, the only thing I can recommend is to allow us to erase your memory."

"But Koenma!" Botan protested.

"Botan, you know it's best. If she stays, she'll just torment herself. She'll go into a state of depression she'll never pull herself out of. As long as she knows Hiei exists, she won't be happy."

"But…I'll be able to save him," I said. "This temporary power. I'll be able to kill those Demon witches?"

"Yes," Koenma said. "Don't make yourself miserable, Sango. Forget him. Let it go."

"But, I'll be forgetting Keiko too," I said. "Won't I?"

"If you want to stay with Keiko, we can let her know that you're memory will be erased. We'll inform everyone. Even Hiei."

"Let me think about it," I said quietly. "Do I have a chance for it to come back?"

"If you do, it's very slim. And if you try to force it to come back, you'll kill yourself," Koenma warned. "Don't force it."

I took a deep breath and let it go. "I'll think about it," I told him.

All of us knew I had already made up my mind. I was going to get back my Spirit Energy. Even if it killed me.

… … … …

Sango was dying. There was no avoiding it. As Hiei stood there, he didn't really know how to approach the situation. He couldn't fight a disease. He couldn't save her life. Yusuke had tried by giving her blood, but with it being demon blood, Hiei wasn't so sure it would help her. Without someone with any sort of healing ability, there was no way to help her.

He thought of what they had done the day they spent together. She introduced him to ice cream…or sweet snow, soda, popcorn, some movies that annoyed him more than Kuwabara could dream of, and pizza. Of those things, he enjoyed sweet snow and pizza.

That day, he realized that someone actually cared about him. Someone actually wanted him to belong somewhere. She didn't want to fight him, though she wasn't afraid to challenge him to some mind games every once in a while just to piss him off. But, it was her way of making him put forth the effort of blending in with the humans.

She had every reason to make him do those things. Because she cared about him. He had spent some time with Kurama and when Kurama told him to 'act natural', he would do something a demon would do, like prop his feet up on a table at a restaurant, which Kurama would just sigh and shake his head.

Sango actually put the effort in to teach him something rather than forcing him to learn. She had made it interesting enough for him while the fox he would just have to observe or ask a question.

He gently grabbed her cold hand and rubbed his thumb over it. "You fool," he whispered. "Do you even realize what you've done?"

Her hand twitched and she groaned as she moved. "Oh, hell."

Hiei blinked but helped her sit up nonetheless. She looked at him for a while and her eyes widened, "What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be in the Human World! You must be a special kind of stupid."

He glared at her, "I'm here because of you."

"Why?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were dying?" He asked quietly.

Sango's eyes seemed to travel the room, looking for anything else to concentrate on other than Hiei. "Who told you?" She finally asked when she looked at the sheets covering her.

"The Detective."

She swallowed hard and looked at Hiei, "I…talked to Koenma. I still have some time, but…there's something going on again. With the blood transfusion Yusuke gave me."

Hiei's eyes searched hers, trying to predict the answer.

"It's temporarily going to give me Demon Energy strong enough to keep Mukuro out of the Human World and enough to kill the Demon witches," Sango explained but there was no happiness in her voice.

The smile that formed on her lips was thin and forced, "You'll have your power back. You won't have to come back to the Human World and it'll be over."

She winced as she got out of the bed, but Hiei didn't let her get much farther as he grabbed her wrist. "What are you not telling me?" He asked.

"Nothing," she lied. Even Hiei could tell.

He chuckled, "You're a terrible liar."

Her eyes hardened into a glare only a demon could have, "Right now, I'm superior to you, Hiei. Back off and let me do this. It's…better this way."

… … … …

When I found Yusuke, I was walking normally again. Yusuke smiled at me, "Morning Sleeping Beauty!"

I scoffed, "Whatever. Let's go find Mukuro and get this over with."

Yusuke frowned, "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Yusuke," I said.

"You never do, but I bet I can get it out of Hiei," Yusuke said.

"You're stupid enough to think I told him?" I asked. "He doesn't know either."

In truth, I was debating about getting my memory erased. I wasn't excited about it. But…it just seemed like the better option. Hiei wouldn't come back to the Human World. There was no reason for him to. Other than Yukina. And…demons would be invisible to me anyway.

The only way I would know they would exist is by listening to Yusuke and Keiko tell stories about them. I would just think they were insane. Or they were talking about friends I hadn't met. There would be pieces of my life missing.

But…worst of all…a part of my heart would be gone.

I wouldn't know Hiei anymore.

I slammed my fist on the table in frustration, breaking the table. Yusuke looked at me, shocked I had broke the table, "You alright there?"

"I need to go kill something," I growled. "Don't get in my way."

"Sango, what's the matter?" Yusuke asked.

"I went to the in-between again and Koenma talked to me. He gave me two choices and I told him I would think about it." Tears were streaming down my face as my body shook trying to contain the emotions that were ready to explode at any moment, along with the pent up energy.

"What options?" Yusuke asked.

"The blood you gave me gave me enough power to defeat the Demon witches. But it's probably going to destroy my Spirit Energy. Everyone's going to be invisible. I won't be able to sense them, hear them, see them…nothing. He told me that I could get my memory erased as an alternative and still live with Keiko as long as you knew it. But, if it was gone and I tried to get it back by training, I would die."

"Then you can't fight the witches," Yusuke said. "Don't do it. Hiei would understand."

I growled as I looked at him, "You don't understand, Yusuke. Mukuro is about to launch an attack on the Human World. We are the last chance the Human World has. We have to stop her before she actually succeeds since the Makai Barrier is down and Hiei isn't her second-in-command to stop her. She has to be stopped. It's not for Hiei anymore. It's for everyone we hold dear back on Earth."

Yusuke's eyes widened, "You're joking…"

I shook my head, "But, if I can kill the witches, Mukuro should back down. I don't know for sure though."

"Hey Hiei, how many witches were there?" Yusuke asked the wall.

I wanted to puke. I had no idea Hiei had heard all of that. Hiei walked from the hallway with his usual expressionless look as he kept his hands in his pockets. "Three."

His crimson eyes were like daggers twisting in my heart, but I didn't look away. Yusuke coughed awkwardly and walked out.

"What are you going to do?" Hiei asked.

"I'm thinking about taking that memory offer," I said.

He was definitely shocked by my answer, "Why?"

"I don't want to remember someone I'll never be able to see again," I told him. "There's no point in it. Besides, you'll be here. You have no business in the Human World."

"I do have business in the Human World," Hiei snapped at me.

"Like what?" I asked angrily.

"Hn," was his response as he looked away.

I felt tears in my eyes as anger built up. I wasn't sure if it was because of Hiei's lack of response or because of the Demon Energy. I walked out of the room and went back to the room I had woke up in, slamming the door behind me.

After a moment, the door opened and Touya walked in.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I brought Hiei here," he said. "He cares about you and took more insults than he deserved. You shouldn't be so angry with him. He just doesn't know how to express how he feels."

I growled as my energy began to flare, "Touya, you don't understand! It doesn't matter if Hiei cares or not now! It's too late! I'm not human anymore. I'm a demon right now. And when this is over, I'm probably going to get my memory erased so I won't have to remember doing any of this for no reason. Hiei can get over me and I can face the rest of my life in misery. I'm fine with that. That's just how it has to be this time. Not every story has a happy ending and this one just happened to have the worst ending for us both."

I took a sharp breath in and walked out of the room. It was time to go. We needed to find a place to meet Mukuro head on.

"Touya, keep Hiei here. Freeze him to the floor if you have to," I told him. "Hokushin! Yusuke! It's time to go! We need to find Mukuro now!"

Before I could leave, Hiei stopped me. "Just like that? You could die, you know. You have no idea what you're up against. She isn't Yomi. She holds no sympathy toward you. Especially since you decided that you could smart off to her."

"If you think I'm going to come this far just for you to stop me, you're wrong," I told him dangerously. "Mukuro isn't my target. Those Demon witches are. Jin, Hokushin, and Yusuke can take Mukuro. What they do and how they do it is none of my concern. I told you I was getting your power back and dammit, that's what I'm doing. You stop me and I'll kill you myself, Hiei."

"That takes away the point," Yusuke said as he pushed by.

I rolled my eyes then looked back at my beloved friend. He would never understand…

I gave him a gentle smile. "I'll kill them slowly," I assured him. "Maybe then your power will slowly return."

I opened my hand to give him back the Hiruseki stone, but he wrapped my fingers over it, "Keep it. To protect you."

He…understood…

And he was letting me go…


	14. Mukuro and Witches

I wouldn't allow myself to cry as we ran across the Demon Plains to stop Mukuro. When we got to her territory, she was getting ready to cross.

The cyborg demon stopped before she could cross when she saw us coming. I could see her smile when she saw me.

"I didn't think you would come so far as to try and stop me yourself, foolish human," Mukuro said.

"I'm not here for you," I said. "Though I would love to rip you apart, I'm here for the witches behind you."

I could tell they were the witches. They were seemingly young looking and attractive. The three of them looked nearly identical, only they had different colors. One had purple hair and purple eyes and was dressed in a purple robe while another had pink hair, pink eyes and was dressed in a pink robe and the last had blue hair, blue eyes, and was dressed in blue robes. But I could see they were wasting more energy trying to disguise themselves as the young beauties they were pretending to be rather than being the ugly old hags they truly were.

Mukuro smirked at me, "So Hiei did try to break the curse. But, it would have destroyed him in the end. Loving you wouldn't have broken the curse. Killing you would have."

I growled at her. Yusuke grabbed my shoulder, "Calm down and remember why you're here. Don't go after Mukuro until you've killed the witches."

"I know," I told Yusuke. "She still pisses me off."

I attacked the witches. I wasn't surprised other demons tried to stop me, but they were surprised when I broke through the defense they put up. Even Mukuro was surprised I had broke through her A-Class defense.

Certainly no human could do that…

Right. This human could.

As my anger increased, I noticed I was getting closer to the first witch, the purple one. Fear was etched onto her pretty face. I wondered if she would even fight back before I got to her or if she had forfeit her lift completely. If she kept hiding, she would forfeit her life.

When I reached her, she didn't change into the old hag I knew she was. The purple energy formed on my hands and with one punch, she was obliterated. The Hiruseki stone began to glow a bit and I knew Hiei had gained some of his power back, but how much, I wasn't certain.

I fought through more demons, searching for another witch. The witches had the ability to alter their appearance into anything. So kill everything. I started a mass massacre, not caring who or what I killed until I grabbed Yusuke and froze. Was it really him?

After a moment, I growled and slammed my fist into his face. The witch screeched as she transformed into the pretty creature I had seen earlier. It was the blue one. The purple energy formed on my hand and I punched her in the face. Now, I just had to find the pink one.

As I continued to kill of everything that crossed my path, I realized that Mukuro was protecting the pink witch.

I pushed through the battle and stood in front of Mukuro, black blood covering me from the demons I had killed. She had an amused look on her face. "You've gotten stronger, but you're not strong enough to defeat me."

"I don't need to defeat you to kill her," I said icily.

She came at me and I blocked her attack. She was a lot stronger than the other demons I had fought. But not as strong as Yusuke. She was using her strange abilities to cut through dimensions and telekinesis powers. All I really had was the energy around my hands and the barrier it could make around my body, but that seemed to be enough.

I managed to distract her enough to get her away from the witch and get her to Yusuke and Hokushin then jumped away from our fight and went straight to the witch.

But Mukuro saw my plan.

She appeared in front of me and punched me in the stomach with one of her punches that were like bombs. The attack would have killed me if I hadn't formed a barrier at the last moment.

I gathered as much energy as I could into my fists and slammed one into the robotic half of Mukuro's face, shattering the metal half of her face. I wasn't sure if I had killed her and I really didn't care. I jumped over Mukuro and slammed the remaining part of my energy into the last witch, destroying her before she could turn into a nasty old hag, but not before I lost the battle with myself.

All too soon, I was back in that never ending void only this time, Koenma was waiting for me.


	15. Dress Shopping

Keiko seemed happier than she used to be. We were shopping for dresses for the prom and I had been asked by our close friend Shuichi Minamino. I was pretty excited about it. He wasn't exactly unattractive. I was in love with his emerald eyes and I had braided some small braids into his long vibrant red hair when he wasn't looking. I was sure he knew but he just didn't care.

I already had my dress. It was silver. I don't really know why Shuichi wanted it to be silver, but whatever. Yusuke made a surprise visit for prom and Keiko had to go shopping for a green dress.

I sighed as I sat in the chair outside the dressing room, "Keiko, this is the 15th dress you've tried on. Hurry up."

"I think I've found it!" Keiko said excitedly. "Besides, I have to look perfect, just like you. You want to impress Shuichi, don't you? This could be your lucky night!"

Right…my lucky night. Ever since the car accident from forever ago, I had had memory lapses, but Keiko seemed happier than I remembered her. Maybe it was because Yusuke was back. But…Shuichi knew Yusuke and he was happy about Yusuke's return, but he was not happy about something else. He wouldn't tell me what.

To my surprise, Shuichi walked by. When he saw me, he smiled. I stood up and walked up to him. "Are you still shopping too?" I asked.

"No," he said good naturedly. "Are you?"

"No," I responded. "Keiko is. She's freaking out."

There was trouble in his green eyes. "So, you gonna tell me what's bothering you?" I asked him.

He gave me a charming smile, "Nothing you need to worry about, Sango. Just family business."

I frowned a bit, "Your mom isn't sick again, is she?"

I vaguely remembered a story when he mentioned she had been deathly ill and somehow miraculously recovered somehow.

"She's fine," he reassured me. "It's Shuuichi, his grades are falling and I don't know how to help him."

"Perhaps I can help, depending on the subject," I offered.

Shuichi smiled slightly, "Yes, Literary Arts are your strong points aren't they. Perhaps you can help."

I looked at the dressing room, "Has Keiko seemed happier to you?"

"Doesn't she have a reason to be? Yusuke is visiting her," he said.

"It started before he came back. Before she knew he was coming. Like…she was happy I couldn't remember something."

The frown was so light I wouldn't have noticed it if I didn't know him. "Perhaps it's best you discuss that with her rather than me," Shuichi said.

I groaned, "Then you do know?"

He smiled slightly, "Yes. But it is not my place to say. Though, I will admit, Keiko and I share very different opinions upon the matter."

I glared at him, "Fine. Keep your secrets."

He smiled and ran his fingers through my hair with a longing look. It wasn't love. It was…sadness and shadows of wanting to understand something he couldn't. His hand traveled down my neck to a necklace I always wore. It was so simple but the beauty it held was beyond anything I could ever ask for.

"Are you wearing this with your dress?" He asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "Is it ok if I do?"

"I would hope that you would," he said quietly, a softness in his green eyes that I hadn't seen before. "I think it would go nice with your dress."

I smiled a bit. Keiko told me Shuichi gave me the necklace, but from the way Shuichi was acting…that wasn't true at all. Maybe he would tell me at prom.

Shuichi walked away and I went back to waiting for Keiko. Only, she was waiting for me and was giggling with excitement.

"You and Shuichi were getting rather close," she said while nudging me.

I looked at the dress in her arms, "You finally picked out a dress?"

"Yeah! It's perfect! But tell me about you and Shuichi," she pestered. "I've never seen you let someone touch you so intimately."

"There was something in his eyes," I said quietly. "He looked upset. Keiko, something's bothering him. I think you know what it is. When he started getting…distant…you started getting happier. There's something going on and dammit, I'm going to find out what."


	16. The Plan

Hiei walked through the store with Kurama.In his heart, he was beginning to realize that she really couldn't see him anymore, but he wouldn't accept it.

"What are you planning?" Kurama asked the quiet demon.

Hiei's return to the Human World hadn't surprised the fox demon in the least. However, Koenma's visit did. He spoke to Keiko and himself at the same time, telling them of the battle that had happened in Demon World between Mukuro, Yusuke, and Sango. Keiko was not at all pleased.However, Sango had decided to keep her memory though she would not be able to see any of them. She hadn't wanted to forget Hiei.

But…somehow, she had.

Upon Hiei's return, they realized Sango had forgotten Hiei. Koenma had wiped her memory without her permission.

"I'm planning to see her tonight," Hiei told the fox. "I'll make her remember, whether that fool that rules Spirit World wants her to or not."

The same question plagued the pair as they walked back to the school. Why would Koenma erase her memory? Why just Sango and not Keiko? If anything, Keiko was more traumatized than Sango.

When they entered the lobby, Yusuke greeted the pair.

"What took you? Kuwabara's waiting for us!"

"Hiei wanted to see if it was true," Kurama said.

Yusuke's excitement suddenly disappeared, "Oh…yeah, I'm sorry about that, man. I…I can't believe she chose to erase her memory."

"Koenma said she chose not to," Kurama told him.

Yusuke just shrugged, "Keiko thinks she's better off. She's convinced Sango's in love with you, Kurama."

Kurama allowed a small smile to grace his lips, "I'm well aware. Keiko has been begging me to date Sango ever since she has returned, but when Sango looks at me…I see emptiness. She knows something is missing. Something major has been removed from her life. She misses Hiei and she doesn't even realize it. She can tell that Keiko and I are hiding something from her."

Yusuke sighed, "Well, let's go. They'll be joining us later, so we better tell Kuwabara not to shoot any insults at Hiei while Sango's around or she'll think he's lost his mind."

… … … …

After Keiko and I dropped her dress off at the dorm, we went to Pete's Pizza to meet up with Shuichi, Kuwabara, and Yusuke. It was good to see Kuwabara again. I laughed as I hugged him. The goof ball, I hadn't seen him in ages.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" I told him.

He just stared at me, "But I saw-"

He suddenly flinched in pain and glared at Shuichi, "What was that for?!"

Shuichi just gave a nervous laugh, "It's nothing, Kuwabara."

Kuwabara's face had a look of realization, "Oh. Right."

I frowned, "I've seen you and I don't remember, do I?"

He laughed nervously, "It's fine, Sango. Don't worry about it."

Keiko had a look of surprise on her face then she glared at Shuichi and Yusuke. "Yusuke, can I talk to you?"

He groaned as he got out of the booth and walked outside with her. Whatever Keiko was yelling at him about, it was fierce. But, he was yelling right back. I slid into the booth and sighed as I sat there.

"So, Kuwabara, how's the girlfriend?" I asked.

"Oh, Yukina? She's good. I'm planning to visit her this weekend." He looked ready to say more, but a firm look from Shuichi silenced him.

"Is…there more stuff I don't remember?" I asked.

"It's too early to tell," Shuichi said, that same sadness in his eyes.

I could feel eyes on me, though I wasn't sure where the gaze was coming from. I tried to ignore it, but…it wasn't a bad feeling. There was so much pain in the gaze, though I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Like they wanted me to see them. They wanted so badly for me to see them, but I couldn't find them.

When Yusuke and Keiko returned, Keiko was still furious and so was Yusuke. I looked at them as they sat down by me. "So, when's the wedding?" I asked.

They both glared at me. Keiko's was especially nasty. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

I blinked, "Tell you what?"

"That you could see him!"

She pointed at the empty spot next to Kuwabara. "Uh, do you need your eyes checked? There's no one there."

Keiko only got angrier, "Don't give me that! Why else would he be here if you couldn't see him?! I thought you were over him!"

I literally pushed Yusuke out of the way to get in her face, "There is no one there, Keiko. I'm not over anyone because I wasn't into anyone. I'm going back to the dorm."


	17. Remembering

When Keiko came back to the dorm, I was finishing a paper that was due the next week.

"I'm sorry, Sango," Keiko said. "I just thought-"

"You didn't think at all," I told her.

No one stood up to Keiko. She was sharp tongued and witty and when she did get angry, her temper was hard to handle. Unlike her, I didn't cover my battle scars. I held my head high when I knew I was wrong about something. I would admit it and carry on. Keiko took it like a blow to her pride.

It was a bad habit of mine to kick Keiko while she was down, but she always recovered by the next day. That's just how our fights went.

I looked at Keiko who was standing there with tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"You're going to stand there and apologize while I'm getting two reactions out of the people that are closest to me? Shuichi's clearly worried about me while you couldn't be happier that I can't remember parts of my life? Shouldn't you be worried too? What are you hiding, Keiko? Why are you so happy that I can't remember something?"

She swallowed hard and sat on her bed, looking at her hands for a moment, "It's best if you don't know. It'll only hurt you more, Sango."

I could tell from the look in her eyes she was telling the truth. But…I still wanted to know.

"Did a close friend die?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "Nothing like that. Just trust me on this. You're better off not knowing."

I sighed and looked at the two dresses hanging on the wall. A simple silver dress that would reach just to my ankles and straps that went up to my neck. My back would be bare and there was a lavender swirl pattern on the bottom that was hardly noticeable, but it was still very pretty. The very green dress was strapless, which was surprising for Keiko, and very ruffle-y. It was also very short, which was also surprising. She had resorted to buying heels for her dress while I managed to find some nice sandals to go with my dress. I wasn't much of a dress person and it was a miracle I had found those sandals to actually match.

… … … …

I woke up in a cold sweat.

What. The. Hell.

Those…eyes.

It was the same dream I had been having for…ever, it seemed like. Since Keiko's sudden burst of happiness and Shuichi's sudden…depression, I guess.

I was in a dark room. Or an inevitable void of darkness. I wasn't certain of which. I couldn't escape it and at first, I was afraid of it. I was always alone. It always had a sense of impending danger. Like at any moment, something was going to rise from the darkness and try to kill me.

But, as I adjusted to the darkness, I realized that the danger was my own sense of emptiness. That…this emptiness was my lack of memory. And that was what this darkness was. I was sitting within my mind. And I was alone. And no one was helping me remember.

But…suddenly, I wasn't alone in the darkness anymore. At first, I didn't realize what the feeling was. It was strange to know I wasn't alone but didn't know who was with me.

Then…this light appeared. It just floated for a moment. Just below the light two eyes opened. They were so sinister. So evil. And the color of blood. As if they had absorbed the life of all the lives they had taken.

But…that's not what woke me up. The emptiness…it was gone. For the short moment I stared into those eyes…I felt safe and alive again. Like I was complete and whole. I didn't understand it. I didn't know anyone with crimson eyes…did I?

… … … …

The day of prom was hell. Girls were running up and down the hall, in and out of our room just to talk to Keiko for whatever reason. It took forever to curl my hair just to find out I hated it then I pinned it up and let two strands frame my face. It looked nice enough.

Then the makeup came. Silver eye shadow and thin black eyeliner and mascara along with some natural lip gloss.

I was beginning to wonder if this was really worth it.

Keiko squealed when she walked into the bathroom, "You look gorgeous!"

Then she attacked me with glitter spray, covering my hair with it. "Shuichi will love it!"

I was beyond annoyed with her. "You are such a pest," I grumbled.

She pouted, "Aren't you going to tell me I look nice?"

"No," I told her.

She gasped, "Why not?!"

"Because I don't think so. You don't look like Keiko Yukimura," I replied as I stepped into the dress and zipped it up.

When I looked at the clock, I was ready to kill Keiko. "You made me get ready five hours early?"

"We're getting pictures done!" She said.

I took a deep breath then let it go, "Ok, fine."

We went down to the lobby and found it packed out by all the girls waiting for their dates. I just rolled my eyes with a sigh. This was pathetic.

"I told you it was worth the wait," I heard Shuichi say.

I turned to see him looking rather nice in his tux with silver tie. I almost laughed. It looked like he had straightened his hair, but he did look nice.

Yusuke was speechless as he stared at Keiko.

"You look tired," Shuichi noted.

"I had a strange dream last night," I told him. "It…startled me a bit."

Shuichi gave me a strange look as we began our adventure to wherever it was we were going. I had no idea what she had planned or who was taking pictures. She never tells me anything.

"What happened?" Shuichi asked casually as we walked toward the park.

Of course we would take pictures at the park.

"Ever since I started forgetting things, I've had the same dream. I've just been in this black void, I suppose. Alone. And that's where I feel this…emptiness the most."

"Emptiness?" Shuichi asked suspiciously.

"Like I've forgotten something important. And last night…I saw these eyes. They were so terrible. Evil even. They were red like the blood of all the lives they've seen fall at the hands of their owner. Yet…I felt safe. Whoever they belong to is who I've forgotten." I forced myself not to freak out or cry, "I've forgotten a serial killer. And I'm in love with him."

Shuichi chuckled as he tucked his hands into his pants pockets, "That's quite an analysis you've come to." A complex look crossed his face, and he sighed, "But, it seems you can't escape the truth much longer, though it was supposed to be that way. If you will wait a few hours, I will tell you everything tonight."

When we got to the park, Shuichi's mother and our mother was there as well. I felt a blush form on my face. This sucked. We took pictures everywhere and Shuichi and I got out of Yusuke and Keiko's kissy pictures. I picked at them while Shuichi tried not to laugh.

"Just one," Keiko said.

"I'm not kissing Shuichi," I said stubbornly. "That's weird."

"It's prom night," Yusuke said while folding his arms behind his head. "It's either now while your sober or later after the spiked punch at the dance. Might as well do it now."

Shuichi and I both deadpanned. Really? In front of our parents?

"He's right you know," Shuichi's mother agreed.

Both of us were shocked.

"Mother-"

Shuichi suddenly stopped arguing and looked at Yusuke who was looking at the tree behind him.

After a moment, Shuichi sighed, "Very well."

I stared at him, "You're joking. You-"

Suddenly, the kind eyes of Shuichi were gone and the sinister gaze of those crimson eyes was there. I just stared at them for a moment.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

He didn't answer as he gently touched the stone of the necklace around my neck.

I could tell he was unfamiliar with what he was doing as he cupped my face. The sinister look never faded, but it was gentle, sad, but mostly frustrated. Like there was a barrier separating us. He placed a light kiss on my forehead and I chuckled.

"You're going to invade my dreams and keep me up all night then do that? I don't think so."

I grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him into a forceful kiss. When I let go, I was looking into the kind eyes of Shuichi again. He just stared at me with a very flustered look while Yusuke was laughing so hard, he was leaning against the tree to stand up.

I blushed a bit, "Sorry…"

Shuichi chuckled a bit, "He just wanted to let you know he existed."

Keiko didn't look happy.

Yusuke sighed, "Keiko, she was miserable. If he makes her happy, let her be happy."

"She was getting happy," Keiko argued.

I was glad our parents were leaving so they didn't have to listen to this anymore.

"She would have been fine with him," she said as she pointed at Shuichi.

Shuichi broke them apart, "Not now. I'm telling her the truth later, whether you like it or not, Keiko. She deserves that. You should not celebrate her pain. She has suffered more not knowing what she is missing more than she would suffer not being able to see. I fear the mere concept will be too much for her to understand. Hiei has already contacted her so that may help her understand."

I thought Keiko's head was going to explode.

Yusuke just grinned as he looked into the tree, "Making a move, good job!"

I looked at Shuichi, "Why is Yusuke talking to a tree?"

"You will understand later. Shall we go? Our reservation should be ready by the time we arrive."

So, we wandered on to the nice restaurant that Shuichi's mother and my parents had arranged for us to eat at. It was a pleasant surprise considering I really had no idea Shuichi had reserved it.

It was nice that Shuichi hadn't made it awkward that I had in fact kissed him rather than whoever had taken over him. But…that bothered me as well.

Why wasn't I freaking out about that?

"Is something wrong?" Shuichi asked.

"Whoever he is," I started. "He took over your mind. And…that doesn't bother me. It…happens a lot, doesn't it."

Keiko glared at me, "Stop bringing him up. I don't want to talk about him. He ruined your life, Sango. Accept it and move on. You're better off not remembering him."

I glared back, "What makes you think it's better for me not to remember him? I want to remember him. If I can remember him, I can figure out what to do from here."

"You won't get over him," Keiko told me. "You're so in love with him, you don't know what to do with yourself."

"Where have I heard that story before?" I asked with a harsh sarcastic tone. "Oh wait. Every time Yusuke leaves for more than a day. Every. Time. But I'm not making you forget about him. Hell, I'm not even stopping you from going to prom with him. I didn't tell you to stop waiting for him, Keiko. You were the one telling me to stop scaring off all the boys you wanted to date. In the end, I was always right about them. Stop trying to live my life for me."

Keiko huffed, "You'll keep loving him if you remember him. You're never going to see him again, Sango. You don't have the ability to."

Shuichi gently held my hand, "Perhaps it's best if we stop there and I'll explain the rest later. Keiko really doesn't know enough about the situation to explain."

"You weren't there either!" She accused.

"Do you really believe a human can explain a demon?" Yusuke asked Keiko.

I looked at Shuichi, "Demon?"

He gave me a caring smile, "We'll cross that road when we get there."

I nodded. God…what the hell had I forgotten?

When we got to Shuichi's school gym, it was decorated with a theme of a castle?

"What is this?" I asked Shuichi.

"Medieval," he explained. "I did my best to not get involved since I actually lived through the era and did not want to correct where they were wrong."

I didn't ask. I was surprised they weren't playing insane songs. I guess the slower songs were going with the theme.

"Shall we dance?" Kurama asked.

"Uh, if you want," I said.

He led me to the dance floor and gently place his hand on my waist while I took his hand.

"Where would you like me to begin?" Shuichi asked.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"His name is Hiei. He is a fire demon and he is the one that gave you the necklace you're wearing. A couple weeks ago, he came to the Human World because Mukuro, a friend of his, asked the Demon witches to curse him. The curse they placed on him would be impossible for him to break. He would have to fall in love with a human. Though Hiei has changed because of his forced assistance with Yusuke's Spirit Detective cases, he still is not fond of humans, but I suggested you and he agreed. He's always been fond of you, compared to the other human females we know.

"You were already in love with Hiei before this. I thought it would make you happy, and in its own way, it did. But, misery began to take your mind. If Hiei did fall in love with you, you realized he would have to choose between you or Demon World, his home. He had fought so long to return to Demon World. You didn't want him to stay in the Human world for you.

"So, you went to Demon World in search of an alternate way. You found it. You faced Mukuro and those witches to get Hiei's power back. But, it came at a price. You would lose your Spirit Awareness. You can't see Hiei anymore."

I rested my head on Kurama's shoulder, "Why did he come back?"

"He won't admit it, but he does love you. He's trying to find a way around this."

I clutched his jacket for a moment, "What memories am I missing?"

"Anything that involves Hiei," he told me.

I never felt more frustrated in all my life. I had saved him. But…I couldn't see him.

"Why are my memories gone?" I asked Shuichi.

I heard someone clear their throat. We stopped dancing and turned to the short guy that had approached us.

His black hair was long and spiked in such a way there was no way it didn't have gel holding it up, but from what I could tell it was completely natural. His skin was a natural tan from hours he had spent in the sun and from what I could tell, he was very muscular, though they were lean like Shuichi.

Under his bangs was a white headband. But, under his headband were two piercing crimson eyes. The same sinister eyes that had come to visit me the night before. _The same ones that had taken over Shuichi just hours before._

_He was dressed in a black tux with a black tie. He…he looked stunning, even as I watched the slight annoyed expression disappear from his face as he stared at me with probably the same deer-in-headlights look I had._

_I just stared at him, completely speechless._ My heart dropped and began to race as I stood before him. This…was the man that I loved. And all I wanted to do was run from him.

"Hiei," Kurama said quietly, "She can't see you."

A beautiful smirk formed on his wonderful lips. "I think she can," a low, velvet voice responded.


	18. Dancing with Demons

Shuichi walked away, leaving me with this man. For the first time in my life, I was truly afraid and truly excited at the same time as he put his hands on me and held me close.

"How can I see you?" I asked, trying not to let the tears in my eyes fall.

His hand left my waist and he gently cupped my cheek, letting me feel his calloused hand. God, it felt so good. I almost closed my eyes, but he wouldn't let me as he caught my tears before they fell, being mindful of my makeup and not smudging it.

"I'm letting you, for now," he responded quietly. "Under my headband is a third eye. The Jagan. I can manipulate your mind and let you see me, for now, but it's only temporary."

He lightly touched one of the curls that framed my face, "You look beautiful tonight."

I felt my face heat up and I wasn't able to look at him.

"Y-You're Hiei?" I asked when I could finally look at him.

He nodded and we danced quietly, getting used to just being together. It wasn't awkward at all. All of my emotions were overwhelming me. I was shaking in fear of just being near him. But…he wasn't scary. I was just overwhelmed, I supposed.

Hiei pulled me closer, because I was shaking so bad. There was amusement in those beautiful, dangerous blood eyes. But it quickly disappeared when a serious thought crossed his mind. I guessed it was why he came. "Sango, Koenma forced you to get rid of your memory," Hiei told me quietly, some anger in his voice.

I looked at him, "Koenma?"

"The ruler of the Spirit World," he explained his voice gentle again. "The car accident you were in years ago…you almost died. But, Yusuke gave you blood and it helped you live, but it was determined you wouldn't live for more than a few more years. That was because you were supposed to die from this fight with Mukuro and the Demon witches." He moved his hand from my waist to the stone around my neck. "I gave you this to protect you. And it did. It kept you from using your Life Energy as a last resort to defeat the witches. That was how you were supposed to die. It would have been slow and painful. We can bring your memories back, Sango. If you want them."

I smiled a bit, "Can't I just enjoy prom?"

He sighed, "You were my date anyway."

I blinked, "You…asked me to prom?"

"I was human," he said dully. "I had to escape here and Kurama and you helped me."

"Kurama?"

"The human you call Shuichi," he said as if it were a bad taste in his mouth.

I almost frowned. "You…really don't like humans, do you?" I asked.

Fear filled his crimson eyes for a moment, "Sango…please, I'm a lot older than I look. I've held a lot of resentment against humans for a long time. Then, I was forced to work with the Detective and they kidnapped and tortured my sister."

"Detective?" I asked.

"Yusuke," he answered simply.

"I'm sorry about your sister. Is she ok?"

He had that wonderful smirk again, "She's fine. Her name's Yukina. The girl that idiot Kuwabara is so in love with. And if you see her tonight, do not tell her. She doesn't need to know."

I nodded, "Ok. But, why?"

He smiled ever so slightly. It wasn't that smirk. It was a true, genuine smile. "She's so innocent, just like you are right now. I remember when you were as innocent as she is. You aren't anymore, but you used to be. I'm a convicted felon and murderer. She knows that and she doesn't need to know that I'm her brother."

"If you weren't a good person, I wouldn't love you," I told him.

His crimson eyes met my brown ones if only for a moment while I smiled at him before he looked away. I just smiled while I rested my head on his shoulder and he tightened his grip on me.

"Tell me about the necklace," I said. "How did it protect me?"

"It's a Hiruseki stone," he said. "It's Yukina's tear. They're rare even in the Demon World. It held some of my energy, even though I didn't have any. I knew when you foolishly went to Demon world, you would need some protection. You left with no intention of returning to me."

His arms tightened around me, "Yusuke returned with you in his arms. He told me that when you woke up, you wouldn't remember me and you wouldn't see me. You wouldn't remember anything. Because Koenma didn't want you to. He didn't want any more human demon hybrids running around. He didn't realize you would have to leave us all. Even if you left, I would find you. I was not going to lose you."

I felt my face heat up as I kept my face on his shoulder. Then I realized something.

"You don't have a heartbeat," I said quietly.

He chuckled, "Demon hearts don't beat."

"What type of demon is Kurama?" I asked.

"A fox," he said.

"Foxy," I said with a giggle. "That seems so unlike him, yet it's perfect."

For a moment, Hiei stopped dancing as he stared at me, hope in his crimson eyes as he watched me.

"What?" I asked.

He placed a light kiss on my forehead, "You always called Kurama 'Foxy' before. I thought you got your memory back."

I felt tears of frustration sting my eyes, "When will I get it back?"

"The end of the night," he promised. "I'm enjoying myself."

I smiled slightly.

"Tell me about you," I said. "What's your story?"

Pain crossed those beautiful crimson eyes as he stared back at me. I had asked the wrong question.

"I can wait," I said.

"I don't think I ever told you," he said. "It's a dark story, full of blood and depression."

I gave him a comforting smile, "And you'll never have to bear that burden alone. I don't care."

"I was born on the ice island of Koorime with my twin sister, Yukina. The people of Koorime are all women and are self producing every one hundred years. Males are forbidden. I was thrown off the island.

"Bandits raised me. The leader of our troupe became the closest person I would ever know as a father, but I became obsessed with killing and eventually found myself an outcast in our band.

"I went searching for the Koorime people so I could kill them all for what they had done to me, but when I found them…They were cursed to their own solitude. To me, they were already dead. I found a woman named Rin, who took me to my mother's grave. She had killed herself after Rin threw me over. She told me about Yukina and I went in search of a surgeon to get the Jagan Eye.

"Getting the Jagan Eye would allow me to find her and I would be able to watch her from afar, but it would also give me power.

"The first time I met Kurama was when he was a young human. We fought an eight eyed demon together. Shortly after that, he assisted me in retrieving the Artifacts of Darkness, but he betrayed me after that in order to save his human mother from a life threatening illness with the Forlorn Hope. The Detective defeated me and I was arrested and as probation, forced to assist in his missions. That was how we met.

"The Dark Tournament, you showed up along with Botan, Shizuru, and Keiko. None of us were particularly happy about it and you weren't happy about being there. Of the humans, you were the only one that had any common sense. You actually stood on the sideline of the fights rather than in the stands because you would rather be in danger than deal with Keiko fretting over Yusuke."

He chuckled briefly, "You tried so hard to fight in the Dark Tournament against one of the members of Team Masho. You were so angry. We all were. He had taken advantage of Kurama fainting after a match and just used him like a punching bag. Even Yusuke tried to calm you down and you punched him in the face."

He sighed a bit as he held me close, "Though Yusuke did nearly ruin this with the introduction. When I stole the Artifacts of Darkness, in order to get them back, I kidnapped Keiko and tried to turn her into a demon. Yusuke used that as the introduction."

He chuckled again, "You asked me why I didn't try harder."

I giggled into his shoulder.

"Sometimes I wonder if you are human," he whispered into my hair. "I don't believe it most of the time. You're too amazing to be."

"Hate to disappoint," I said with a sympathetic smile.

"You can't disappoint me," he said quietly. "You never have."

I hated how easily he could make me blush. Before, I was practically a steel wall, cold and impenetrable. But…he simply looked at me and I was blushing and crying.

"Do you want to stay with Kurama for a while? He's been by himself for a while," Hiei told me.

"Will getting back my memories hurt?" I asked him.

"No," Hiei reassured me as he placed another kiss on my forehead. "I won't let it."


	19. Right Here in My Arms

We sat down at the table Shuichi…Kurama was sitting at and he smiled fondly at us. "Well, how did it go?" He asked.

"She still doesn't remember anything," Hiei informed him. "But she will."

A curious look crossed Shuichi's face. I realized I couldn't quite accept him as Kurama yet. _Though, I could accept him as Foxy. I smiled a bit as I imagined him with fox ears and a fox tail. He didn't look too bad with them. But…they didn't seem natural with his red hair and green eyes. That was just too kind of him._

_"How will that happen?" Shuichi asked curiously._

Hiei simply looked away, not answering the question.

Shuichi chuckled a bit, "I admit, it is nice to know that you will be back to your former self soon, Sango. The others have been asking when they could see you again. It's been hard for them to accept 'never' as an answer."

_"Others?" I asked._

_"Jin, Touya, Chu, Rinku, Sazuka, and even Shishi," Shuichi told me. "_It's a high compliment to be concerned by Shishi. He's rather self-centered."

I frowned. I had no idea who they were.

"We can visit them tomorrow if you'd like," Shuichi told me.

"Not if she has other plans," Yusuke said as he joined the conversation with a grin. His grin disappeared as he stared at Hiei, "What are you doing here if she can't see you?"

"I can see him, Yusuke," I said.

He crossed his arms over his chest with an annoyed, confused pout, "I don't understand."

"I can use my Jagan Eye to manipulate her mind enough to allow her to see me," Hiei said.

"Where's Keiko?" I asked.

"She's talking to some friends," he said with a shrug. "So, what are you two doing?" He said with a suggestive look between me and Hiei.

Hiei gave him an annoyed glare, "She can see me, Detective. She doesn't remember me."

Yusuke frowned, "Bummer." A wide grin formed on his face, "That means it is story time!"

I didn't know Shuichi knew the look of fear, "Yusuke, is that wise?"

"Of course! She doesn't remember it! Might as well tell her everything she doesn't remember doing."

Hiei glared at Yusuke, "Tell anything and I won't hesitate to kill you here."

I slowly moved closer to Shuichi which made Yusuke laugh. "You should watch yourself, Hiei. She isn't who she used to be, remember?"

Shuichi gave his friend a sympathetic look, "Yusuke is right, Hiei. You should watch what you say around her. Anything could alter when her memories return."

My heart broke slightly. Was it really as simple as that? I had fallen in love with Hiei for being himself yet…if he couldn't be himself now that I couldn't remember him…what good was it?

"Do you remember when we were in Junior High and I disappeared for days at a time?" Yusuke asked.

I blinked and shook my head.

He sighed, "Damn. Koenma was thorough. Looks like he took everything rather than just Hiei. Well, do you remember when I got hit by a car?"

My jaw dropped, "You were hit by a car?! When?!"

Yusuke sighed as he ran his hand through his slicked back hair, "Let me get Keiko."

I stood up to stop him, but he got away before I could. I sighed as I sat back down and crossed my arms over my chest. This was annoying.

"What's wrong now?" Hiei asked me.

I looked at him. He was clearly no longer enjoying himself. "I don't want to discuss this with Keiko," I said. "She's going to flip-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence before someone grabbed me and pulled me out of the gym and into the warm night. Keiko was furious.

"You aren't supposed to see him at all," she told me. "It's for the best, Sango. He's just going to break your heart again."

I put my hands on my hips, a sign my anger was reaching my limit before I just punched something. "Keiko, I appreciate your concern, but I don't even know him right now. All I can do is see him."

"The fact that he's here is enough to get him arrested," Keiko told me. "I'm telling Botan and she will tell Koenma."

I took a deep breath and let it go, "What do you have against him? What has he done to you? Yes, he kidnapped you, but he has paid the price for that, Keiko. He has fought at Yusuke's side. He has been loyal to him, something you cannot say. Something I have had to force you to do because you wanted to date other guys while he was in Demon World trying to keep the Human World safe. After all these years of friendship…when we were his only friends and I watched you two fall in love…you were just going to leave him for some idiot you found at this school. Hell, you probably would have gone for Shuichi. But, Hiei stayed loyal to him, even when he didn't have to."

"No he didn't," Keiko said. "When Yusuke got kidnapped by Genkai, Hiei was going to let him die! They had to bribe him! You had to bribe him! And what did he do to you in return? He pushed you into Demon World!"

I blinked, "He pushed me into Demon World? For what?"

She huffed, "I don't know. Something about a movie."

_"Must be a hell of a movie…" I said distantly._

_"That isn't the point!" Keiko yelled. "You can do better! A lot better! _Any human would be better than him!"

"Don't stand there and yell at me like that when I can't even remember what Hiei's really like. When I get my memory back, I'll let you yell at me like that, but right now, you have no right."

"I have every right!" She yelled. "I don't want you to make the same mistake again! You've been so happy!"

I glowered at her and she backed away, immediately shutting up, "'Happy'? What the hell is your definition of 'happy'? I haven't seen Shuichi really smile since I forgot everything. Then I see Hiei tonight and he tells me that Koenma forced me to forget everything so there wouldn't be human demon hybrids running around? What? It's ok for Kuwabara and Yukina to have children? And what about Shuichi? Is he not allowed to have kids? What the hell is wrong with Hiei? Is there something wrong with me loving the one person that no one else dared to love?"

Keiko was quiet. She knew she had crossed the line. But she was going to argue anyway.

"He's a murderer," she said. "A villain."

"Yusuke didn't graduate high school," I told her. "Theoretically, he's going to end up in jail. Especially with that punk street thug thing he has going on. He's killed demons, probably. Seeing as how he was the Spirit Detective, I would imagine he has."

"Demons are different!"

The moment our eyes met, she stopped talking. "So, it would be perfectly acceptable for me to go in there and kill Hiei and Shuichi? I could find Yukina as well and kill her. Or is it different when you have a relationship with them?"

Keiko had tears running down her cheeks, "What's wrong with you? Why can't you just accept that it's better this way?"

"Because it's not," I told her, feeling no sympathy to her tears. "I've felt nothing but emptiness. Like something had been ripped out of me and I didn't know what it was. Then I had a dream last night and I saw Hiei's eyes. And…the emptiness was gone. I felt complete again. Like for the first time my heart was beating. Don't even say you don't know how that feels. Because I've seen that look on your face. That look of fear and excitement. That look that says it's too good to be true when you saw Yusuke the other day but it also says he's back…he's really back."

I gave a quiet sigh, "Keiko, I don't need you to approve of my relationships or to be happy for me. That's your self esteem issue, not mine. But, I don't want you to try and stop me. Let me learn the hard way, if I'm being a fool about it. I know no one thinks Hiei's capable of loving me, but I think he is. He proved it by showing up tonight, dressed in a tux and dancing with me."

I left her standing there as I went back inside. Yusuke was still sitting at the table, talking with Hiei and Shuichi.

"She might need you out there, Romeo," I said as I sat down.

Yusuke sighed, "Dammit Sango. You didn't have to be mean about it."

"Man up and be the boyfriend you're supposed to be and take care of her after I beat her down," I said harshly.

He got up and practically ran out of the gym.

I sighed as I rested my face in my hands.

Hiei chuckled a bit and I looked at him, "What?"

"I heard everything," he said.

I glared at him and got up, not wanting to deal with it anymore. I wandered to the punch bowl and just stared at it for a moment, wondering if they had already spiked it or not. Well, whatever. Hiei was in charge tonight.

"Is that so?" Someone whispered and I nearly dropped my punch from getting startled.

"Jesus, Hiei," I hissed. "Did you have to scare the hell out of me?"

He chuckled a bit as he stood next to me, "Kurama left. He wants to meet us at the compound tomorrow. If your memories have all returned by then."

"Now it's an if?" I asked.

"The…process…I discussed it with Kurama. He doesn't think you'll be comfortable with it."

I sighed, "Words of comfort there. And he's never wrong. That's just great. Well, let's go before I decide to try and get wasted on the liquid courage."

Hiei followed me out as I drank the spiked punch. It wasn't enough to do anything except give it a weird taste.

When we got outside, I took off the sandals and walked barefoot with Hiei through the town. He was quiet as we walked, his thoughts taking him wherever they wanted.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked him.

"What?"

Suddenly, I didn't want to ask anymore. But, it was too late.

"If…you hate humans so much…why…?"

"Hn, don't you think I've wondered the same thing?" He asked me. "It'll be like babysitting."

I looked at the sidewalk trying to not let his words hurt. But, they did. I knew he didn't mean for them to, but I couldn't tell when he was joking and when he wasn't.

Hiei took my hand and forced me to stop walking. We were in front of an ice cream shop. There was this incredible look of peace on Hiei's face.

"This is where I realized you were different, but I wouldn't allow myself to admit it," he said. "It was while I was under that curse and you asked if I had ever experienced the Human World. The first thing I tried was sweet snow."

I gave him an amused smile, "If it helps you sleep at night."

"That's what you told me then, too," he said distantly.

I sighed realizing this wasn't easy for him either.

"I liked the sweet snow," he said. "You made me watch two movies about chocolate and I got a song stuck in my head for about four hours. You forced me to watch the second one like a couple would and you fell asleep on me. But before the movie, you made me try…popcorn and soda. No one ever went so far to try and make me adjust to the Human World. _Kurama would just scold me every once in a while and tell me to act natural, but I'm a demon. Two different cultures, but you made me experience it.__I can't tell you how many fights you got in with Keiko. I'm sure you'll remember them soon enough. You made me eat pizza. I liked pizza."_

_"Did you not like popcorn and soda?" I asked._

_"You laughed at me," he said dully. "No I didn't like it."_

_I smiled slightly as I looked at the ice cream shop. It held a meaning now._

_"Back in your hometown, you used to visit me when no one else would," Hiei continued as we started walking again. "No one else could find me, but you could. And only when you were angry. You would sit under the tree I was in and rant about whatever was bothering you. Most of the time, I didn't listen. I started going to the park to see if you would rant with people there, and you did. You didn't care what people thought, though they all thought you were insane since you were yelling at a tree."_

_I just smiled. That sounded about right._

_"Why did you push me into Demon World?" I asked._

_He sighed, "You deserved that."_

_I looked at him, confused why I would deserve that. Of course, what did I know?_

_"There was a movie called Chapter Black. It was Spirit World's most forbidden contraband. Sensui, a rogue Spirit Detective, got the tape and decided to build a tunnel to Demon World so he could unleash the demons into Human World and wipe out the human race. He had six others that believed in his cause. Yusuke told me he would get the movie for me when we defeated Sensui, so I agreed to help among some other things."_

_"What other things?" I asked curiously. What could have been as important to him as that movie? Hell, I didn't even know what was on the movie, but if it was banned by Spirit World, whatever that was, it must have been pretty hard core._

_Hiei was quiet for a moment before he finally answered, "Your safety."_

_"Why wouldn't I be safe?" I asked._

_"You were foolish enough to stand ring-side at the Dark Tournament," Hiei told me. "I believe you would have been foolish enough to find a way into that mess. You proved my point a week ago by going to Demon World just so I would get my power back, even though you knew you didn't have a chance."_

_I gave a sheepish smile, "Ok…I maybe we should have that argument when I remember the stupid things I've done in that particular area. So, what's Chapter Black about?"_

_He gave me a very stern look, "You are not watching that movie, Sango."_

_"But-"_

_"No," he said. "Don't argue this right now. Just believe me." He chuckled, "You argued last time and I pushed you into Demon World because you said you could handle it." I could see the memory on his eyes as he relived whatever he had seen, "I never watched the movie. I destroyed it so you wouldn't come after it. It's 400 hours of the human race at its worst. Torture, death, war. Even children. You would not have been able to handle it, Sango. It would have broken you. Yusuke said just talking about it with Keiko made her cry. You would not have not lasted. And don't argue that I don't know what you're capable of. I admire your courage to go to Demon World for me. You're not afraid of death or killing for a reason, Sango. But, you wouldn't have been able to handle that."_

_I felt my heart flutter. Killing…for a reason._

_"Oh…my god…I…killed?" I asked him._

_He sighed as he tucked his hands into his pockets, "I tried to talk you out of it, but you were persistent."_

_I glared at him, "You're really bad at talking me out of stuff."_

_"You're really stubborn," Hiei pointed out. "Once you humans set your minds to something, you don't back down. Especially you females."_

_"I'm taking that as an insult, but thank you anyway," I told him._

_We continued walking. When we got to the park, Hiei quickly scooped me up and effortlessly jumped into a tree where we sat comfortably on a branch. It was nice._

_"I'm almost envious of you," I told him. "Being a demon must be nice."_

_He chuckled, "We are superior to humans."_

_I rolled my eyes, "Everyone has their opinion."_

_He looked at me, "You used to agree with me."_

_"Can't agree if I don't remember," I argued._

_He sighed as he sat there, looking at the moon that was peeking through the leaves. "It's…like the curse," he told me, almost disappointed._

_"I…have to love you?" I asked._

_His silence was enough of a yes for me. It was uncomfortable now. Hiei had suddenly become very…distant. There was more…more he wasn't telling me._

_I would never get my memories back this way._

_I closed my eyes while the breeze blew by, enjoying the smell it brought with it. It was a wonderful forest smell and…fire. Burning wood. The smell caused my heart to ache for some reason as it began to race._

_When I opened my eyes, Hiei wasn't there. I thought I was going to puke._

_"Hiei?" I whispered. "I can't see you anymore."_

_There was no answer._

_The first tear that fell ran all the way down my cheek. The second was wiped away before it could fall. I could feel his hand on my cheek, or at least I wanted to believe I could._

_I stared at the emptiness in front of me, not really understanding what was going on._

_Something wet touched my lips and I realized it was my tear. So…that's what the plan was. This was how I was going to get my memory back._

_It was uncomfortable._

_"Why can't I see you?" I asked him._

_The wetness touched my forehead. I really hoped he didn't lick me. I understood the message, though. He would need the full power of the Jagan to unlock my memories._

_I took a deep breath and let it go. This was definitely strange. Kissing an invisible guy._

_I felt something warm on my cheek and I was pulled forward ever so gently. Then something covered my lips. As fire spread through my body, my mind went numb. Slowly, everything became clearer. I was seeing things I hadn't seen in a long time, reliving events that I wish I wouldn't have to relive, and feeling things I did and didn't want to feel._

_But the only thing that mattered was the man kissing me. As my memories returned, the list of reasons why I loved him grew as did the passion in the kiss. Hiei's hand left my face and went to my waist as he pulled me closer. I held the back of his head, trying to get him as close as I could and not let go, but we did have to separate after a moment._

_When we parted, we were both panting, him harder than me. He had literally burned off his headband in the process, but…I could see him._ I could feel him.

I could remember.

And…it hurt.

"When are you going to Demon World?" I asked quietly.

He looked away from me but I made him look at me. "When?" I asked again, searching his beautiful eyes for an answer.

"I'm not going back," he told me. He gently cupped my face as I sat in stunned silence, "You offer me more than all of Demon World ever could. I may go back to visit, but I'm not leaving you. Never again."

He placed another kiss on my lips as tears filled my eyes.

Hiei was here to stay. He was actually happy in the Human World all because of a human babysitting him.

~The End~


End file.
